Dangerous Love
by RosieStars
Summary: Rose Rogers hasn't had the easiest life, kidnapped by H.Y.D.R.A at three, experimented on, and turned into a dangerous weapon, but life begins to look up just a bit when she finds her father. Though she's not the same as she was before her kidnapping, and hardly even knows love, during the battle with Ultron, she might find herself somehow drawn to a certain Sokovian speedster.
1. Prologue: Easy is boring

Rose walked around the room, bored out of her mind. Fury told her to stay put while he talks to the famous Captain America. The name intrigued her. After all, he was the man who was in the Avengers, the man who saved the world countless times and fought for his country, but she'd never seen him up close. She'd never had the opportunity. If she didn't know any better, she'd say Fury was keeping them apart on purpose.  
The only question was why? They had more than a few similarities, they would get along just fine. She herself was also kept in ice until three years ago, having woken up in the twenty-first century. She still had to adjust to all the changes, and she had been injected with the super soldier serum by H.Y.D.R.A when she was eight. Yeah, you could say they had a lot in common. So what was the reason, and why was she meeting him now?

"What's this about, Fury?" Steve asked curiously, following Fury down the hall. "Is it about H.Y.D.R.A again?"  
Fury shook his head solemnly. "No, it's actually something personal, which is why I only wanted to speak to you, and not the others."  
"What is it?"  
Fury thought for a moment of how to break the news as gently as possible. "Do you remember Lydia Hathaway?" he questioned.  
A sad, far away look appeared in Steve's eyes. "My wife? Of course I do," he replied with a sad smile. "What has this to do with her?"  
"H.Y.D.R.A broke into her home soon after you were frozen. She was found dead when the police came," Fury explained gently, trying to soften the blow. "Her daughter was nowhere to be found. She was three years old at the time."  
Okay, let's admit, it might have been softer if he dropped an anvil on him first. Steve froze, eyes wide. "I-I had a daughter?" Sure he knew Lydia would've died by now, but he never expected to hear this. Not to mention he had a daughter that he knew nothing about until just now.  
"The next eleven years of her life were spent at HYDRA. They injected her with the super soldier serum and experimented on her multiple times," Fury continued. "Peggy Carter found her when she was fourteen. Because she was too unstable for them, she and Howard Stark put her in cryo then hid her in the basement.  
"We found her three years ago, and defrosted her. We trained her and took her in since she had nowhere else to go. Then we found you." His words sparked something in Steve. Why tell him this now? "We did a DNA test the minute we found her. She's yours. You both nearly met on several occasions. I thought it was time for you to finally meet. She's waiting in there." Fury pointed to the door just ahead. Steve was quiet for a moment.  
"What's her name?" he demanded quietly. After everything he just learned, he might as well get some closure about his daughter.  
"It's Rosemary," he responded, opening the door for him, "but she prefers Rose."  
"We'll talk about this later," Steve said with a glare. Even if he introduced him to her, it wouldn't erase the fact that Fury had kept her from him since the moment he joined S.H.I.E.L.D. There was no getting any of that time back. If what he says was true, then she was seventeen by now, a teenager. So yeah, he was angry, and might always be, not just at Fury but H.Y.D.R.A for doing this to her, taking everything away from her until this was all she knew.  
Without hesitation, Steve entered the room, his eyes landing on the brunette in one of the chairs surrounding the table. She had pale skin, a piercing in her left eyebrow and one on her nose, and when she turned to look at him, he saw she had blue-green eyes. She wore her wavy black hair with several different colored highlights loose along with a black long-sleeve top, black jeans and black combat boots. The sight of her made Steve pause in his tracks. Her face reminded him of her mother.  
"Captain America," she greeted, a smile on her face. "It's an honor to meet you."  
"Agent Hathaway," Fury addressed her, sitting down at the head of the table. Rose nodded in his direction as Steve sat down next to her, his gaze never leaving her face. "I wanted to tell you after I brought him to you. I'm sure he wants to learn about you. Why don't you tell us about your parents? You remember your mother, don't you?"  
At that, Rose bit her lip. "Barely," she weakly smiled. "My dad served in the 107th in the 1940's. He died before I was born, so I never knew him. I remember my mom used to talk about him, saying he was a hero who died for his country. She was killed by H.Y.D.R.A after they broke into our house. That's about it." She shrugged, but the way her eyes flashed angrily, it was easily detectible that there was more she wanted to say.  
"I wouldn't say your father's dead," Steve spoke up, startling Rose for a slight moment. "Maybe he was simply frozen in a block of ice for around seventy years."  
Rose tilted her head in confusion. "Of course he's dead. If he weren't I probably would've met him by now."  
A glare was sent in Fury's direction before he turned back to Rose. "Actually I just found out I had a daughter who was kidnapped by H.Y.D.R.A. She was kept in ice for about seventy years," Steve explained subtlety, hoping she'd take the hint. "When I was found, they kept me from meeting her several times. Fury decided to tell me about her and let me meet her today."  
Rose's eyes widened as she caught up. "You're saying my dad is Captain America," she said quietly. It wasn't a question but a statement. "That you're my dad?"  
Steve stared at her for a moment. "Fury told me today. I had no clue until then," he said. "You look just like your mother."  
For a while, the two stared at each other, and Steve worried this wouldn't work out between them, that too much time had passed, and too much had happened. Then Rose lifted her hand to wipe something from her eyes. As her hand lowered, he could see tears welling in her eyes.  
Almost instinctively, Steve pulled her into a tight embrace, not wanting to let go again after all these years.

"Are you sure you're related?" Tony asked, glancing at Rose, eyebrows raised in bewilderment. It had been three months since the two had been reunited and Steve was introducing her to the rest of the Avengers. Well, it was more an audition to join their team, not that she knew of course.  
"Yeah, why?" Rose challenged.  
"Uh, maybe because you're nothing like each other," Clint commented. "He's nice, and you're...scary and dark."  
At the comment, Rose looked down at her outfit. "Oh, come on," she smirked, rolling her eyes. "This is the least scariest thing I've worn."  
"I mean your personality," he retorted.  
"Oh, please go run in front of a bus," she snapped. Steve tried to hide his laughter with a cough. He'd gotten used to her violent tendencies by now.  
"You'd miss me if I did," Clint teased.  
"I'd be overjoyed."  
"Uh-huh."  
Rose rolled her eyes and went upstairs to meet the others. Tony followed her quickly. "She's not easy to deal with," Clint sighed to Steve. "But then again, when has things ever been easy? Easy is boring anyway."


	2. Chapter 1: Hating Mr Speedster

Rose fired her guns, saving her knives for later. She stood beside Clint, leaning as close to him as possible without getting in the way of his quiver or the arrows as he fired them. The pair balanced as they stood upright on the jeep Nat had commandeered, firing at snipers, foot soldiers, and attacking machine suits that had clearly been made after Tony's Iron Legion design.  
It had been six months since Rose Rogers had joined the Avengers, and so far everyone had warmed up to her a bit like she did them. She was still wary and mistrustful of them as she was everyone except her best friend, but she couldn't deny she had grown to trust them just a bit, and could even call them her friends. As for the rest of the Avengers, minus Natasha, Clint and Steve who had already done so, they had developed a soft spot for this girl, even if they didn't want to admit it.  
Being around her everyday made it hard if they tried to avoid her, and considering they were always wandering around the tower, be it for training or meals, they would no doubt run into her. She still behaved very hostile towards them, excluding Steve, if they got in her way, annoyed her, if she was having a bad day, or even she was having a good day and she just wanted someone to mess with for fun. Not to mention they now also had to deal with the former Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes after Rose brought him in two months ago. Let's just say nowadays they have their hands full.  
She had improved slightly with her people skills. Due to everyone's constant pushing, she had gone from being homeschooled to going to a public high school so she could "hang out with more kids her age". The school year was almost over, and she'd be graduating next year. Now she had some friends who could put up with her and were her age other than her best friend, Aaron. Sometimes she would even talk to other teenagers on her own and actually be nice to them. But those were on lucky occasions; Rose was definitely still very antisocial.  
Rose wore her usual combat suit almost identical to Nat's, and wore black knee-high combat boots, her black hair streaked with multi-colored highlights tied back in a tight braid. Her black eyeshadow, eyeliner, and lipstick made her looking every part her code name 'Black Thorn'. Aaron came up with it, Thorn being his nickname for her because of how she could be named after such a beautiful flower but be so deadly, and black because it was her favorite color.  
Rose ducked as a large blue laser blast came flying at her head before she stood back up and fired her guns at the two jeeps chasing them. She took out the tires on one, causing it to crash into one of the many trees, but was forced to duck when the remaining jeep fired at them again. Nat swerved sharply, driving through the snowy forest, trying to avoid the laser fire.  
"You know, if you keep driving like this, you're gonna get us killed before they even have a chance!" Rose yelled, taking out a sniper that had tried to sneak a shot from the trees. She nearly tumbled off as Natasha made another sudden swerve. "And that one you just did on purpose!"  
"Too bad it didn't knock you off!" Natasha shouted back. "Now if you don't like how I drive, you can get off!"  
"Ladies, there's a time and a place to fight," Clint called to them, the peacemaker between the two assassins, busy taking out more snipers hidden in trees and the occasional foot soldiers lining the forest ground.  
Rose rolled her eyes, firing at an approaching suit quickly. "I swear, Clint, if it wasn't for you, the two of us would've torn each other apart by now," she said, whirling around to fire a shot at the jeep pulling up besides theirs.  
The driver ducked, but Rose grinned when Thor came out of nowhere and smacked the driver out of the jeep. The god then flew off towards a sniper post, the now driverless jeep crashing into some trees, and Rose fired at a group of approaching machine soldiers.  
The last one evaded her fire, but before it could shoot her, Rose waved a hand, and it flew off course, Tony soon taking it out with a blast from one of his hand lasers. Rose looked up and waved at him briefly as Iron Man flew past them, and he waved back before zooming off. She quickly diverted her attention back to the situation at hand, firing at the sources of any laser gunfire that weren't coming from straight ahead.  
Steve raced past on his motorcycle, throwing his shield to take out any hostiles directly in their path, using his bike to power through many of the foot soldiers as well. Any of the targets he missed, the Hulk smashed while Tony and Thor cleared the skies of any hostile forces.  
The pattern continued as the group raced toward the H.Y.D.R.A base, until D.E.L.T.A hit a fallen tree. Nat hit the brakes, and Clint and Rose lowered their stances quickly. The team braced themselves, Rose shoving her guns into the holsters on her thighs, grabbing hold of two throwing knives.  
The jeep swerved from Natasha's sudden brake, and D.E.L.T.A jumped out of the jeep right before it hit a tree. The trio used the momentum to leap into the air, Clint with his bow raised and arrow ready, Nat curled into a fighting stance, and Rose with her knives drawn. The three were joined by the rest of the Avengers, Steve jumping his bike as Thor and Tony flew overhead, and the Hulk ran, using the tree as a springboard to leap powerfully into the air.  
Thor whacked his Mjolnir onto a soldier, sending bolts of lightning out to the other hostiles in his area. Clint fired his bow and simultaneously kicked down another soldier as he landed. Natasha jumped-kicked a soldier when she landed. Rose threw two knives into the necks of two soldiers, knee-kicking another in the head right in the head as she landed.  
The Hulk was smashing soldiers on their other side, Steve and Tony speeding past. Steve took out a base farther ahead, effectively cutting off the laser fire. Meanwhile, Tony flew on ahead towards the H.Y.D.R.A base on top of a Sokovian hilltop.  
"Stop, you're surrounded!" one soldier shouted at Rose, pointing a gun directly at her head. She turned to him with an eyebrow raised, but looked around herself to see he wasn't lying.  
"Gee, you got me," Rose said sarcastically, raising her hands above her head. If she was right, and she always was, he would be coming in three, two, one...  
A pair of hands wrapped around the soldier pointing the gun at Rose, taking it from him, and shot the other soldiers surrounding her before any of them had time to react. Once all of them were down, the newcomer slammed the butt of the gun into the man's head, knocking him out cold.  
Rose merely rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Always have to make a dramatic entrance." She smiled at her friend, Aaron standing in front of her with a smirk on his face. He knew she didn't need any help, but she'd let him do it to let him feel useful. After all, she preferred not to use her powers all the time since she had a tendency to lose control over them if used too much.  
Aaron wore a mask covering his face from the nose down, making him look more like a muzzled dog than a person. His messy black hair was lightly dusted with snow. "Look, woman, I come all this way to help you and this is the thanks I get?" he teased.  
"Aaron Barnes, put aside your pride and fight," Rose shot back, proving her point by shooting a knife at another soldier's throat without even looking back. Charging towards the nearest guard, Aaron took out his escrima sticks, and plunged the electric sticks into his neck, knocking him out.  
Suddenly, Tony's voice rang through her earpiece. "Shit!" he winced as he hit the barrier over the base. She rolled her eyes as she stabbed two more soldiers and jumped a third.  
"Language!" Steve and Aaron reprehended simultaneously, earning a raised eyebrow from Rose and a smirk.  
"What? It slipped out!" Aaron cried defensively at Rose's look.  
"Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?" Steve asked.  
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," Jarvis reported. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other H.Y.D.R.A base we've taken."  
"That's new," mumbled Aaron, placing his escrima sticks back into his pockets. Rose wasn't paying much attention to his statement as a soldier managed to brush his fist against her arm, and she was busy teaching him a lesson. She spun around, and whacked him hard with the heel of her foot.  
"You think?" she snapped, avoiding another blue laser beam. Nearby, Aaron took out one of the machine soldiers, taking out his own gun and shooting with pin-point accuracy.  
Thor bit out over his comms from where he had flown off to fight a new squadron of soldiers. "Loki's scepter must be here then. Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it." He threw Mjolnir to strike a few more soldiers, and then pulled it back only to let it fly past him to hit a soldier behind him. "At long last," he breathed.  
Neither Rose nor Aaron could truly agree, having experienced what it was like it to grow up in a H.Y.D.R.A base, both growing up together. It was there where they grew as close as siblings, but not the best place to have a childhood. Aaron and Rose were raised to be their perfect soldiers, and learned one thing about H.Y.D.R.A that stuck: It was never over with them.  
Rose twisted and kicked multiple guards, throwing a dagger while using another to stab one of her closer opponents. Aaron tossed Natasha a grenade, who took it without noticing who gave it to her, punched the safety button, and threw it on a passing jeep. None of them glanced at it as it exploded as Nat dashed off, and Aaron pulled Rose in the opposite direction.  
She jumped through the air to whirl her arms and legs over two soldiers, breaking their necks, and she pulled out a knife, throwing it at another soldier, taking him out before she landed, while he shot any soldiers that tried to attack either of them.  
"At long last is lasting a little long, boys," Nat commented dryly from where she had taken out three soldiers and a gunman.  
"I'll say," agreed Aaron, reloading his gun.  
"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise," Clint added sarcastically as another gun base started firing at them, alerted to the Avengers' presence.  
"Really, what gave you that idea?" Rose replied sarcastically. "The fact that we lost it half an hour ago before we even got here, or when they started firing at us?"  
"Shut up." Clint shot the base with an exploding arrow, effectively taking care of that threat. Aaron had just thrown a grenade at another gun base, jumping two more soldiers. What surprised him and Rose the most was that no one had noticed he'd entered the game yet.  
Then Tony protested, "Wait a second. No one is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"  
"Is no one going to deal with the fact that's there another kid here fighting with us?" Clint shot back, glancing at Aaron who waved quickly before returning his attention to taking another shot at an approaching soldier.  
"And he said the same thing Dad said," added Rose with a smirk, earning a slight glare from Aaron.  
"It slipped," grumbled Aaron.  
"I know," Steve sighed over the comm. He swerved his bike as a jeep ahead began firing at him before straightening his course. He lifted himself up on his bike, and jerked the handles, using the momentum to flip the bike over his head at the jeep. "It just slipped out," he finished, breathing heavily as it crashed and he landed on his feet.  
"You're an ass, Stark," said Rose, stabbing a soldier in the neck then jumping over him to wrap her legs around another, taking him out before he could shoot.  
"Ooh, Cap, Rosie just said a bad word," mocked Tony, making both Rogers roll their eyes.  
"Be lucky I'm going to elect to ignore that one," she scoffed, running with Aaron past the wounded, unconscious, and dead guards the two teens had taken out to see if anyone else needed help.  
"You kids are just so sweet," quipped Tony sarcastically.  
"You know it, Stark," Aaron smirked.  
Running towards Clint, the two easily help take down the men alongside the archer. "So, kid, what are you doing here?" he asked Aaron.  
"Name's Aaron, not kid," said Aaron, shooting several men down. "I'm seventeen for heaven's sakes. And I'm not on your side or H.Y.D.R.A's side if that's what you mean. I'm more the vigilant type, and if I'm only here for Rose. The rest of you can die for all I care."  
Clint looked at Rose, shooting a guard in the chest with an electric arrow, knocking him out in seconds. "His people skills are even worse than yours," he chuckled.  
"I'd say she's more antisocial," Aaron replied, pointing to Rose. "At least I don't snap at anyone who comes within three feet of me at school, or break their arms because they do something I don't like."  
"Mention that day again, and you'll be next," she threatened, taking out the last man that stood in their way.  
"No, no, no, I'd like to hear about this day," Clint interrupted.  
Before Aaron could open his mouth, Rose placed her hand over it. "Classified."  
"If you say so."  
Suddenly, everything in the forest around them fell eerily quiet, unnerving Rose. "Do you hear that?" she asked quietly, taking her hand off Aaron's mouth.  
"What?" Aaron asked, drawing out his gun again at the same time Clint drew his bow back, both ready to shoot at a moment's notice.  
"Exactly," she said suspiciously, taking out her remaining, and favorite dagger out of her boot, gripping it tightly. She had already used most of her knives. She'd have to use her powers now should it come to that. Suddenly, a flash of blue and white came into her line of vision. Aaron saw the same thing, and struggled to find his target when he was suddenly flipped onto his back. The same happened to Clint.  
Calling her powers up to surface, bright purple energy formed on one of Rose's hands, but she too was thrown onto her back before she could strike, landing painfully next to her friends, her dagger landing a few feet away. A man looking barely any older than Rose with snow white hair and electric blue eyes smirked down at the trio. "You didn't see that coming?" he asked arrogantly in a thick Russian accent.  
Growling, Aaron put away his gun and brought out his escrima sticks, charging them to full power, and connected them, creating a lightweight but basically indestructible staff. Quickly, Rose grabbed it from his hands, and swiped it out from under the white-haired man's feet, sending him onto his back before Aaron really lost his temper. That was one thing they definitely didn't need happening.  
With a smirk, Rose got up, and in a mocking impression of his accent that sounded more like a southern belle accent, asked "What? You didn't see that coming?"  
In a flash, the man was back. So was Aaron, though. Rose tossed the staff to him, and he swung it, only for the man to duck and appear instantly behind him  
Aaron whirled around so fast he almost got whiplash, and cursed him out in Russian words that made Rose mockingly say, "I thought you didn't like that kind of language."  
While the smirk on the man's face infuriated Rose beyond belief, she let Aaron have his chance. Swinging his arm, the man caught the staff, both men glaring at each other. They were about the same height, but Aaron had that thing where his glare made the man feel almost smaller. Then worry formed on Rose's mind as electricity ran down Aaron's arms, going from him to the staff, successfully electrocuting the man.  
Aaron's powers always came out most when he was angry, and it almost always ended up controlling him if he got too angry, kind of like the Hulk. Without thinking, Rose placed her hand on Aaron's shoulder, and teleported him to wherever her father was, leaving her alone with the stranger. "You both may have big mouths, but he also has a big temper, too," she said sternly to the man. He was still twitching as electricity pulsed through his body. Growling, he rushed at Rose, a stupid move in her mind.  
Knowing what was going to happen, she raised her hands in front of her, concentrating on the blue and white lining, and just before it collided with her, he was sent flying back into a tree. Natasha said something in the comms, but Rose was too busy to listen.  
"Enhanced in the field. In pursuit," she stated, pressing one hand over the comm link. Then she turned her attention to the speedster. Retrieving her dagger on the floor, she walked up to him. Folding her arms across her chest, she watched him look at her in amazement with eyes void of emotion.  
"Think you're all that now, Mr. Speedster?" she questioned with a small smirk.  
"An enhanced like me," he muttered, struggling to get up, eyebrows raised.  
Suddenly, Rose grabbed the knife from the hilt, and held it close to his neck. "I am nothing like you," she hissed. "Don't try to distract me."  
"I'm not, I was merely trying to-" Before he could finish his sentence, she attacked him, but he still tried to run off so she only slit his arm. He dashed around her, and stopped, leaning on a tree with that infuriating, arrogant smirk plastered onto his face. "I was merely trying to make conversation," he finished. Rose rolled her eyes in a bored motion.  
"Yeah, well I'm not a big conversationalist," she scowled. "Not exactly the place or time." He chuckled at her and shook his head gently. "What's so funny?" she demanded, not breaking concentration and eye contact.  
"You think you can catch me?" he asked.  
"Of course I can, I don't have to be fast, I just have to play a little dirty," shrugged Rose with a smirk of her own., her dagger poised in position to strike again.  
"You're feisty," he chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I like that."  
Without warning, she sprinted forward, and pinned his vest to the tree. Her face was close to his, making him feel slightly uncomfortable. She smelled like something nice, something he couldn't place. "Why aren't you attacking?" she inquired, tilting her head to the side, blue-green eyes that held hidden curiosity that could be found if you searched hard enough.  
"I don't need to, you won't kill me. You are hero," he countered confidently, earning a snort from Rose. What was going on his mind?  
"I'm not a hero, never will be, and I could kill you FYI as you can see by every dead body in these woods," she stated proudly with a glare. Who did he think he was, telling her what she could and could not do?  
"But you won't," he interrupted, holding up a finger. She huffed. This man was getting on her nerves, but her face remained impassive. The moment you show anger, you've lost the battle. Her father had mentioned that himself before they came there.  
"What makes you think I won't?" demanded Rose. "I've killed more people than I can count, what makes you think you'll be any different?"  
"You haven't done so the entire time we've been here. If you were going to kill me, you would've already," he replied smartly.  
Rose pushed the blade farther into the tree as her fingers wrapped and unwrapped around it in small angered motions. "I'm interrogating," she growled.  
"Really? I don't believe that for one second." He continued to grin like the Cheshire Cat while Rose tried to keep her emotions under control. He really enjoyed getting a rise out of her, didn't he? At first, she didn't like him, then dislike quickly escalated to hatred.  
"I don't care what you-" Her sentence was cut off when the man shot forward, surprising her and knocking her over, pulling his vest and her dagger away from his vest. Rose pushed herself up, her long hair falling over her face slightly, and noticed him twirling her dagger through his fingers, a smug smirk on his face. That was the first time she had ever been taken by surprise in so long, she had to take a moment to come to grips with the unfamiliar emotion. "That's it. You want to play, let's play," she growled, bolting toward him, and kicking him where it hurts.  
He bent forward in pain, and she knee kicked him in the head, sending it back. She grabbed the dagger from his hand, and pressed it tightly to his neck. She could've killed him right then and there, and ended it. But gazing into his electric blue eyes, a small voice in the back of her head, what may possible be what's left of her conscience, told her not to. Finally, she took the dagger off, and ran off through the trees to the others, leaving him on the floor.  
"Drawbridge is down, people," Tony announced as she jogged over to Steve and Thor. Aaron slightly glared at Rose for a moment before turning his attention to something else.  
"The enhanced?" questioned Thor. Rose scoffed, refusing to reminisce her small moment of weakness. She had no clue what happened. Her good heart had always been her weak spot as a little girl but after much of H.Y.D.R.A's teaching over the years, she'd put up a stone wall around that heart, enabling her to do things she never would have done then.  
"Who cares?" she snapped, code for _He got away_. Anyone who knew her knew for a fact she had too much pride to admit someone actually got away from her. But then she remembered the look on the speedster's face, and smiled to herself.  
"Clint's hit pretty bad, we're going to need Evac," Natasha's voice echoed from the earpieces.  
"I can get Barton to the jet, the sooner we're gone the better. You two and Stark secure the scepter," Thor ordered as men filed out of a truck in front of the group. "Why are they lining up?" he asked, watching the men kneeled down to fire at them.  
"Well, they're excited," shrugged Steve before lifting up his shield, and Thor smashed his hammer down on it, making a vibration wave that knocked everyone and the truck behind them away from them and off to the sides.  
"Whoa," said Aaron, impressed. "Not bad."  
"Find the scepter," Thor reminded them. He swung his hammer around in circles, and shot off into the air.  
"And for gosh sakes, watch your language!" Tony scolded in a motherly tone, but humor could be heard behind it. Rose bit her lip to keep from laughing, though Aaron didn't hold back the laughter that left his mouth. That earned a slight glare from Rose.  
"That's not going away anytime soon," Steve sighed, annoyed by his own remark that he was now regretting.  
"No duh," laughed Aaron, patting the super soldier on the shoulder. "I guess I'm supposed to follow," sighed Aaron, looking up where Thor had gone. "By the way, Rose, do that teleport thing on me again before I can finish that man off, you'll get it. Let me fight my own battles next time."  
"I'd like to see you try," snorted Rose. "Now go."  
Aaron gave her a mock salute, earning a roll of the eyes in return. He gave a more respectful salute to Steve, and a pair of black wings sprouted from his back. With a wink at the Rogers, he flew up in the air after Thor. After a few moments of silence between them, Steve cleared his throat to get Rose's attention.  
"He's..."  
"Like me, yeah." Rose turned around, and began to make her way to the base, but Steve couldn't help the questions popping up in his head.  
"Who's he?"  
"An old friend," was her answer. "And before you ask, all I'm saying is that you're not the only super soldier with a kid they didn't know about until recently."  
"We're locked down out here," Nat announced.  
"Then get to Bruce," Rose ordered, looking to Steve.  
"Time for a lullaby," finished Steve. Rose gave him a small smile then teleported inside the building. She looked around and turned in a circle as she surveyed the room. A few men were lightly groaning on the floor, probably shot beforehand.  
"One less thing for me to worry about," she mumbled to herself before raising her voice. "Tony, where are you?" She could see the suit, but Tony was nowhere to be found.  
"Uhh, big gaping hole in the wall," Tony directed her. Yet another eye roll came from Rose as she saw what the billionaire meant. She stepped into a dark room where her eyes became pretty much useless.  
"We have a second enhanced, female, do not engage." Steve informed as she felt around the walls due to her inability to see. After a moment's pause, he added, "And no, Tony, it's not Rose."  
"Got it," replied Rose, walking as careful as possible, using the wall to be continue walking in a straight line.  
"Guys, I got Strucker," Steve announced a few seconds later. Meanwhile, Rose finally saw light and Tony's lit up silhouette. She kept following it, hoping for it to lead her to the right place.  
"Yeah, I got...something bigger," Tony muttered. The further Rose went towards him, the more she could see what he meant. She caught up to him, and glanced up at the alien leviathan hanging above them both.  
"Wonder how long it took them to get that in here," Rose chuckled. Tony himself began laughing at the remark.  
"Wonder how _hard_ it was to get that in here," Tony joked, earning another laugh from Rose. Whenever she laughed, her face lit up, looking more innocent, more like the little girl that she was before.  
They trekked in, looking at all the advanced robotics spread about everywhere until Tony spoke again. "Thor, we got eyes on the prize," he stated. Rose's powers suddenly started acting up, enabling her to sense another presence in the room. She turned around to see a girl who had to be the second enhanced, and prepared to attack and warn Tony, but then she saw red light flow from her fingers. Then...nothing.  
Rose's chest rose up in down rapidly due to her irregular breathing. She felt like she had been taken away from the world. She turned around in a circle, seeing nothing at all in the darkness.  
"Tony?" she called out. "Dad?" No answer. "Clint? Nat? Bruce?" It was like everyone had left her.  
Then suddenly she cried out in pain, clutching the sides of her head. Every single bad memory came back to mind, all the memories she's pushed below the surface to keep on going came up again. Her mother being killed, being taught to kill, being tortured, watching the people she loved be tortured as well, being experimented on, everything. All the people she ever killed came back to haunt her.  
She fell to her knees, not even registering the pain in her kneecaps. Rose was screaming now, tears running down her cheeks as she grasped her black hair, nearly pulling it out, trying to make anything to distract her from the mental pain, anything at all. "Stop, please!" she screamed, sobbing. "I deserved it," she finally said quietly, the fight going out of her. "I deserved all of it."  
Out of her haze, though, she heard someone yell, "Stop it! You're hurting her!" Her vision was beginning to come back, and she saw two figures standing at the tunnel through where they entered. She was too weak to even draw out her dagger again.  
She heard Tony grab the scepter triumphantly, and then notice her on the floor. He said something into his earpiece, and helped Rose up. She leaned on him mostly, and her face looked weary, sad, and scared, the impassive mask concealing her emotions broken. He didn't make any more comments until she was back onto the jet. She simply broke down into tears the second she sat down, and laid down over two seats, sobbing.  
"Whatever she saw, it destroyed her," Tony said quietly. "But she'll probably be back to her old, snappish self in no time, Cap."  
The last thing she thought before she fell asleep was how much she hated the two enhanced for doing this to her. They'd exposed her weakness, and brought back things she never wanted to even think about. Remembering what that girl reminded her of made her sick. But she truly did deserve every single punishment she got, because no matter how many lives she saved, it would never make up for how many lives she took. What she said to the speedster came back to her. _I'm not a hero, never will be._ And the worst part was that she had fooled herself that maybe she could be wrong, but now, she knew she was right. She could never be a hero.


	3. Chapter 2: Back Home

An hour after the jet landed and the Avengers were back at Stark Tower, while Clint was getting treated for his wound, Rose was at it in the training room. Anger always influenced her performance. Training gave her a way to let out her anger, and suddenly after the recent H.Y.D.R.A raid, she had a lot of extra aggression to work out.  
She repeatedly punched the dummy in front of her, imagining it was the person she hated. By now, it seemed to be on its last legs, but she wouldn't stop. Bullet holes filled the targets, each one hitting the center, daggers were lodged in the walls where she aimed them, and most of the punching bags were now destroyed. This may or may not have been the reason why she was always alone in the training room since anyone else would stop whatever they were doing and run out if they noticed her there.  
It was as if each hit would erase the burning images from her mind, but with each punch they came back in flashes like a kaleidoscope of memories. Still, she persisted.  
From the doorway of the room, Aaron, Steve, and Bucky were watching her. Normally he'd try to help Bucky regain more of his memory by inviting him to his apartment and reminding him of the memories Aaron had of him. It was a nice bonding experience for him, which is why Aaron had only decided to stay at Stark tower with Bucky when he saw how Rose was after she had seen her worst memories. He knew how she felt; he'd gone through the same thing, seeing his worst memories almost every time he fell asleep.  
"So who's gonna talk to her?" Bucky asked. "And do not look at me."  
Both super soldiers' eyes landed on Aaron, and he rolled his eyes but nodded. "If I don't come back in ten minutes, pray for me," he said, walking into the room. He turned back at the last minute, and pointed an accusatory finger at Steve. "And tell Tony not to touch my stuff," he added.  
Slowly he made his way to Rose, careful to avoid getting hurt, and gently tapped her on the shoulder. Like he expected, she whirled around, grabbed his arm, and flipped him over onto his back so he landed painfully on the floor. Somehow, he never caught exactly how she still takes him by surprise.  
"We really should talk about this," he began, picking himself up from the floor. "Wearing yourself out isn't going to make you feel better."  
"No, but it helps," she shrugged, returning to punching the dummy. Suddenly, she kicked it in the head, the hidden knives she emplaced in the soles of her boots came out as they made contact, and the head was cut off. It bounced onto the floor and rolled around, Rose giving a self-satisfied smirk as she crossed her arms over her chest. Aaron shuddered as the head rolled over to him, and he nudged it away. There really was something wrong with this girl, wasn't there?  
Well, that would be indicating that there wasn't something wrong with him either, which would be false, so he couldn't really blame her. "Have you seen a therapist?" he asked, poking the head with a finger.  
"When I first came out of the ice, Fury assigned me at least four?" she replied.  
"Four?"  
"I kept biting them. They were all into that touchy-feely stuff."  
"Why am I not surprised?" Aaron chuckled. He got up, and stepped in front of Rose. "There's always one thing that cheers you up no matter how in the dumps you are." Rose glared at him, and snorted.  
"You wouldn't dare. You promised you wouldn't use this against me again," she challenged. A chuckle left Aaron's lips, and he grinned, grabbing Rose around the waist and hefted her up in the air. She cried out as he slung her over his back like a sack of potatoes. He twirled around repeatedly, carrying her with him, keeping a firm grip so she wouldn't slip despite how much she was kicking to loosen it. He didn't care as long as he could feel her smiling. Laughter resounded through the room, her laughter, as Rose shouted, "Aaron Barnes, you put me down right now!"  
"As you wish," he smirked. He dropped her, and she fell onto the floor with a _thump_. Just when Rose began picking herself up, an irritated expression on her face, he quickly picked her up again, one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back. He twirled around again, and then like a rag doll, threw her up into the air and caught her again, and repeated.  
From the doorway, the super-soldiers watched the teenagers have fun. It was a rare sight to see Rose so happy. Only Aaron had that effect on her. He said it wasn't that big a deal, joking that when she finally met a man who she didn't deliberately chase away, he wouldn't have that title anymore. True, but right now it was simply a perk of being her best friend.  
"Shock for you, too, huh?" The question from Steve came so fast that Bucky had to think the question over carefully before answering. He knew what Steve meant.  
"Yeah, except I actually knew these kids, well the Winter Soldier did," he shrugged. "I finally start to remember some things then find out I forgot the most important thing of all...and that by the time I did remember, it was too late. He's all grown up now. And following in my footsteps, unfortunately."  
"Huh?" Steve asked. "He's not another Winter Soldier or anything if that's what you mean."  
"No but he went through everything I did, just younger and more painful," he said sadly. His eyes darkened and filled with anger. "Did you notice that he always keeps his arms and hands covered up?"  
Steve looked over to see Bucky was right. He hadn't noticed, but throughout the battle, and since then, even though it was warm inside, Aaron wore a jacket over his short-sleeved shirt and gloves. "What did they do to him?"  
"Other than human experimentation?" The knuckles of Bucky's human hand turned white from how tight he'd clenched his fist. "Aaron wasn't a stable candidate for the 'Winter Soldier' project. His mother told them herself, saying his body had already been pushed to the limit from the experiments," he said. "But they didn't listen. H.Y.D.R.A. left him as a body with practically no arms and legs by the time he turned eleven since his muscles had been pushed to such an extent. And guess what they did then, just because they refused to let go of the son of the great assassin, the Winter Soldier?" His voice had turned dangerously low. "Those bastards replaced his limbs like they did my arm, saying it was a birthday present, and that he should be lucky since they decided to be so generous. I think his mother said it best if I remember correctly. 'A better present would be to just kill him instead of making him suffer.'"  
Steve said nothing for a moment. At least he didn't have to watch Rose go through the suffering she did, but he didn't know what to say to someone who did. Bucky saw it all, and he wasn't able to even do anything about it. Even worse was that it was all because Aaron was his son. Steve couldn't imagine having that kind of guilt weigh on his shoulders. "I'm sorry, Buck," he finally said sympathetically. "But at least he's happy now, right?"  
"Yep, Aaron inherited his mother's optimism. He says that he doesn't really care what happened before, that he's happy as long as he's not still in that H.Y.D.R.A. cell. I don't get it but..." Bucky trailed off, smiling at the sight of Aaron running from Rose. He'd put her down, and she was trying to get him back for his little stunt, and he didn't want to be on the other end of her wrath, even if she was laughing as she ran. "He doesn't mind anymore. He jokes that having metal limbs is an advantage that people with normal limbs must be jealous of, although I think it's more for my benefit than his."  
"I think I like this side of them better," sighed Steve. "They're actually acting like normal teenagers instead of someone who's grown up in a rush."  
"A rare sight indeed," grinned Bucky. "Can't wait for the day Rose actually brings home a boy that's not Aaron. Let's admit, at the rate she's going, you're never going to have grandkids. I'm already betting against Stark that she'll never be getting married anytime soon. Why he has faith that she will, I have no clue."  
"It's Tony, what do you expect?" joked Steve. "And since we're on the subject, Aaron's just as bad as you are. Seventeen and already a playboy."  
"Like father, like son," Bucky shrugged.

"You lied when you said he got away, didn't you?" Tony asked once Steve had gotten out of hearing range after he dropped Rose off at the room where Clint was being operated on. When she came in, he was questioning a doctor about how long it would take for his friend to get better, to which Rose had alerted Tony to her presence by saying, "Aww, how sweet. You do care."  
"How'd you guess?" Rose didn't even bother denying it.  
"I don't know why no one else has noticed but your hands light up with that purple energy thing when you lie," he shrugged. Rose looked at her hands in confusion. She didn't even notice that she did that, really. "So spill."  
Rose rolled her eyes, but explained everything that had happened during her encounter with the silver-haired speedster. "What?!" he exclaimed. Rose shrugged and shook her head, not knowing any more than he did. "Great, I can barely deal with one enhanced, let alone three more."  
At his comment, a glare was thrown in his direction. "I am right here, and the only enhanced in this room," she snapped.  
"Touchy, touchy," he said with his hands raised in defense. "But...he didn't know you were Steve's daughter, right?"  
"Oh, yeah, 'cause I tell every annoying boy and H.Y.D.R.A. agent I come across, 'Well, hello, boys, my name is Rose Rogers, the daughter of the great Captain America. Want to go get a smoothie?'" she said sarcastically. Then she thought for a moment, and her voice was softer at her next words. "But that bitch had the same powers as me, only the color was red. She went into my head, and saw all of my worst memories." She looked down, and crossed her arms, remembering how vulnerable she had been in that moment. "She could have found out if she could see into my memories."  
Tony sighed, and wrapped a hand around her tenderly, remembering how she'd been after the enhanced girl had gone into Rose's mind. Even his reaction hadn't been that bad. Whatever had been in her mind had been horrible. "If they know that, then they could try to hurt you to get to us," he sighed. "When...when I was getting the scepter...she went into my head, too, and she messed around with some things. She showed me a vision...You guys were all dead, all of the team, and it was all my fault. I don't know how but it was."  
Rose didn't know what to do here. Comfort wasn't something she was still experienced in. To be fair, it almost felt even weirder being hugged. Growing up, she didn't really have much human contact, and if she did, it wasn't exactly good. After a few moments, she hugged back awkwardly and patted him on the back. "Don't you even think about worrying about me," she said, backing out of the hug and placing her hands on her hips. "I'm not dead, and I doubt anyone could kill me. Besides, if it were your fault, I would probably be yelling at you at the top of my lungs calling you an insufferable idiot like I usually do when you mess up. If anything, you should be worried about that bitch Maximoff. When I get my hands on her, let's just say you don't want to know what'll happen then." She jutted out her chin defiantly.  
"I don't doubt that," he grinned, and Rose smirked at having lightened his mood. Out of all of the Avengers, Tony was the one she was closest to, despite her having her dad now. She felt more at ease around him, since he was the one she could talk to without hearing the speech of how she had to respect him and all that, and she liked having someone beside Aaron whose attitude nearly matched her own. He was the only one on the team other than Thor who didn't seem to judge her for her piercings, clothing, and the tattoo on her left arm. Both men seemed to find them cool, while everyone else seemed to think of them as appearing unprofessional. Whenever someone said that, she shot back, "I'm a teenager, I can worry about looking professional when I'm old and boring like you guys. You don't have a say in how I dress."  
"Good, you better not, I'm watching," she joked, punching his arm lightly. Tony chuckled, then rubbed his arm when she wasn't looking. Even her soft punches were hurtful. Rose turned to Clint, watching Bruce and Natasha circle around the table, asking Helen Cho questions about how the machine fixing Clint would work. Intrigued with the new technology as well, Rose listened in with her arms crossed, her oversized black sweater covering her hands.  
"You sure he's going to be okay?" Nat asked.  
"Pretending we need Bird Brain over here really brings this team together," joked Rose with a raised eyebrow. "Plus, who else will be my supernatural buddy?"  
Natasha smirked, "She beat me by one second." Bruce walked in, and Rose could've sworn she saw Nat's eyes light up and Bruce blush just the slightest and smirked to herself. She knew they totally had a thing for each other, and shipped them together so hard she would sell her own soul for them to become a thing. Who cared if she had ten years after that when she would be going there either way? She'd even settle for one if that meant they'd start dating. They absolutely needed to. Rose made her smirk known to Natasha and raised an eyebrow, seeing her blush and turn back to Clint.  
"There's no chance of deterioration. The nanomolecular functionality is instantaneous. The cells don't know their bonding," Helen replied. Rose looked at her in confusion.  
"Okay, that would have been very interesting had it been in English," she said.  
"She's creating tissue," clarified Bruce. "It's fascinating."  
"Oh, well she could've just said that," shrugged Rose.  
"Oh no, he'd flat lining. I'm calling it. Time of death?" Tony called out. Rose let out a snort and pretended to check an imaginary watch on her wrist.  
"No, no, I'm going to live forever. I'll just be made of plastic," corrected Clint. Tony began to pass them all drinks, including Clint. Rose raised a pierced eyebrow, and took a sip of her drink. At seventeen, she'd already been introduced to alcohol by Tony, but considering her fast metabolism enabled her to remain sober no matter how much she drank, she didn't really care if she were underage. Her dad did, though, she just didn't care.  
"You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton," Helen corrected confidently. "Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference."  
"I don't have a girlfriend," muttered Clint, moving slightly to take a small sip of his drink, wincing as he did, obviously in a lot of pain.  
"Not surprised. It's a shame she can't fix anything there," Rose smirked. Nat and Helen quietly chuckled.  
"This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits will be left in the dust," said Helen, causing Tony to raise an eyebrow at her. Everyone knew how much he loved his 'clunky metal suits.'  
"That is the plan. And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday." Tony took a swig of his drink, earning an eye roll from Rose. She came up to Tony and snatched the drink out of his hand, and just to be annoying, used her powers to keep it above his head where he couldn't reach it. "That's just mean, Rosie." Rose shrugged and stuck out her tongue, but gave Tony back his drink.  
"Unlike you, Stark, I don't have a lot of time for parties," Helen muttered with a roll of her eyes. After a moment's hesitation she adds, "Will...Thor...be there?" Biting down on her lip to keep from smiling at Helen's attempt to keep the dreamy look off her face, Rose shook her head. They talked a bit more before leaving so it was just Clint and Rose.  
"You went after him and actually caught him, didn't you?" Clint accused.  
"Yup," smirked Rose.  
"Rose, that wasn't safe," he scolded. "And you shouldn't have lied to us."  
Rose rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're starting to sound like my dad. I know it wasn't safe. Since when has anything we've done ever been remotely safe?" she snorted.  
"Good point."  
"Yeah, I'm full of those."  
"So did you hurt the quick little bastard?"  
"I did a bit," admitted Rose. "I gave a good kick where it hurts but I didn't go any further. I almost killed him...but I didn't. Why didn't I kill him?"  
"Only you know the answer to that," retorted Clint.  
"He's an asshole," she growled. "He was the most insufferable boy I've ever met! I can't believe he would even do something like this."  
"I know. I'm the one who paid the price, remember?" Clint pointed out.  
"I guess," huffed Rose. "So how you feeling?"  
"Like I got shot," he said bluntly.  
"Wow, so descriptive, you should write poetry," mumbled Rose with another roll of her eyes. She took his drink from the table. He gave her a dirty look as she drank from the glass. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it, now could he? "This tastes amazing," she sighed. "If only I could put how this tastes in words, but alas, I cannot."  
"Jerk," he muttered under his breath.  
"Can't hear you. Too busy marveling over this amazing drink," teased Rose, shaking the glass near his head to taunt him. Eventually, she decided to be nicer and gave his drink back. They began to talk about random stuff until Helen came in to say that Clint needed his rest.  
Rose rolled her eyes yet obliged, and left the room. She went downstairs to the lab where she knew Bruce and Tony were busy studying the scepter before it was taken back to Asgard. She walked to the door of the door, and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.  
"Sorry, Ms. Rogers, but you will need a password to get inside," Jarvis informed.  
"What are they doing in there that needs a password?" demanded Rose with her hands on her hips.  
"Mr. Stark has instructed me not to tell anyone," replied Jarvis.  
Rose groaned, "Fine." A screen and keyboard appeared before her, asking for a password. She thought for a moment, knowing Tony best by listening to his thoughts, before typing in 'SteveRogersIsABitch'. After waiting for five seconds, the doors opened with a ding. For once, Rose had no words to say at discovering she was right.  
Wrapping her arms around herself, she made her way down into the lab to see Tony and Bruce, neither noticing her presence. In the center of the room were two humongous orb holograms, one round, neat, and reserved, while the other pulsing, moving, and looking very alive. There were no chairs in the room so Rose stood around, waiting for the two men to notice her as she inspected her nails, leaning against a counter with nothing on it. She waited for three minutes before saying, "What you boys playing with?"  
Tony jumped about six feet in the air backwards when he heard Rose's voice. "What are you doing here, Rose?" he asked.  
"What are _you_ doing here?" shot back Rose, raising an eyebrow. "And what is this?" Tony stared at her, wanting to tell her off for sneaking up on them, but thought better of it.  
He sighs and starts to explain, pointing to the neat, orange hologram. "This," he said, "is Jarvis. And this," he points to the pulsing, blue one, "is the power from the scepter. Now Jarvis is a computer, a robot. He can't think independently, which is okay...but not enough for the world we live in today." Rose frowned. She didn't like where this conversation was going. "And if you look at the scepter, you'll see that it's a lot more free. This one can think."  
"So that's what you two idiots are planning? Artificial intelligence?" Rose asked cynically. "How many apocalypse movies have you seen that all started because some idiots thought it'd be a good idea to create a robot who could think for itself?"  
"This isn't an apocalypse movie, and we're not 'some idiots,'" Tony retorted in a mocking tone. "And this isn't some killing machine. The Ultron program is something that, if I make it in enough time before the scepter has to go, will protect the entire world. Do you want another attack like the one Loki led?"  
Rose shook her head, but opened her mouth to argue, "But you're messing with things beyond your control. If this plan went the slightest bit wrong, there won't be any need for an alien attack. This will kill us from the inside. If I recall correctly, Loki was defeated in, like what, five days? How would we be able to defeat something that wasn't even alive in the first place."  
"Well the plan won't go wrong," Tony argued. "I can make this work."  
Rose folded her arms across her chest, narrowing her eyes. "This is a really bad idea, and when it goes wrong, I'll be right here to say, 'I told you so,'" she growled.  
"That's probably what they said to the Wright Brothers."  
"The Wright Brothers didn't invent something that would wipe out humanity," she replied flatly. Bruce simply stood there awkwardly, unsure of whether or not to speak up and pitch his thoughts.  
"And neither are we," Tony said stubbornly. Rose huffed, and left the two genius' to their own devices. When a Stark set their minds on something, there was no talking them out of it, but you couldn't say she didn't try.

(author's note: Hey, everyone! Hope you enjoyed this one, I kinda enjoyed it. I put the first part in to show the brother and sister relationship between Rose and Aaron. He will appear later at the party to crash in for some fun. And till then, see you!)


	4. Chapter 3: Party's Over

Rose stood in front of the mirror, checking herself over. For once, she didn't think she looked too shabby in her outfit. Due to Aaron's insistence, she washed out the highlights just for tonight, and her hair was wavy and had a fullness to it. The dress Natasha helped her pick was a perfect fit, the purple and black lace dress not showing off too much while at the same time, hugging her curves and keeping her interesting. Her pale skin didn't look as bad as she usually thought it did, standing out in contrast to her black hair and dark lipstick, both drawing attention to her face. Her black high heel platform sandals made her look taller than she actually was, which she loved. Though originally 5' 7", she enjoyed being taller because it drove Aaron insane when she was nearly his height, him enjoying being the taller one in their relationship at 6' 3". The black choker she had and the silver nail polish completed the look, the silver being something to contrast with the other colors beside her skin tone.  
Rose sighed and brushed her skirt for a moment before getting out her room, and walking over to the elevator, her heels clicking on the tiled floor. She pushed the button to the eighteenth floor, and waited. Once she stepped out onto the floor, she plugged her iPod into the large MP3 player. Despite her gothic style, Tony thought she had good taste in music. She stopped by the bar to make sure Tony hadn't eaten all the snacks and drinks yet (he had a habit of doing that, and the last two times, Rose had to stop him by using her powers to levitate them far above his reach until he stopped trying to get them so there'd be some left for the guests), and then went to make sure all the lights were working (the last time they didn't work, Tony asked her for help to fix them). As far as she could tell everything was working fine.  
As Rose waited around for the party guests to trickle in, she noticed Natasha came down from her room to wait with her. Nat was making drinks if Rose remembered correctly. She was dressed in a black and white dress that was adorable in Rose's opinion. "Look at you! Poor Brucey is gonna be tripping over his own feet when he sees you," Rose teased, nudging her fellow assassin, grinning when she saw her blush.  
"Oh, stop it," laughed Natasha, smacking Rose playfully on the shoulder.  
"What, it's true!" Rose exclaimed. Nat rolled her eyes with a smile. Rose waited patiently for the other guests to come in, eyes widening in surprise when she saw Aaron walking in with a blue long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, combat boots, and black driver gloves. "I don't remember seeing you on the guest list," she smiled, coming over to introduce him to Natasha.  
"Thought I'd crash," he shrugged. He looked Rose over, analyzing her outfit. "Would you look at yourself? I bet boys will be walking into walls because they can't take their eyes off you. And I'll be standing there, ready to call the ambulance when one decides to flirt with you."  
Rose snorted. "I sent a guy to the emergency room _once_ , and that was because he was a little handsy."  
"Uh-huh," he said cynically. His gaze landed on Natasha, and he let out a loud whistle. He walked past Rose to her, and leaned on the wall as he gave her his signature smirk. "Well, hello, hot stuff. I don't think we've been properly introduced. Name's Aaron Barnes, and you are?"  
"Natasha Romanoff," she replied, one corner of her mouth lifting in amusement. Aaron took her hand in his, and kissed it. Rose lifted an eyebrow at the act. _Smooth, you sly dog_ , she thought.  
"Nice to meet you, Natasha Romanoff," he grinned.  
"Oh, stop it, please," said Rose, burying her face in her hands. "If you're gonna flirt, at least have the decency to do it outside."  
"I'm just saying hello," an annoyed Aaron retorted defensively.  
"With you, that's flirting," snorted Rose.  
Natasha waved her off with a smirk. "I don't mind."  
"Sure, you don't, he has that effect on 'the ladies,'" shrugged Rose, giving a devious smirk. Thor came into the room next as Aaron and Natasha chatted a bit. Then Steve, who looked slightly uncomfortable at the party since he hadn't been to any outside the 1940s. When Bruce walked in, Rose was glad to see her prediction was correct. He looked like he'd just seen the sun for the first time. Rose whispered in Natasha's ear, "What did I tell you?" before grabbing Aaron by the collar to drag him with her so the scientist and the assassin could talk. She walked over to Clint and Tony who just walked in, and poked Clint on the shoulder to get his attention.  
"Hey, I'm trying to distract the flirt here so he doesn't ruin the spark between Bruce and Nat, and have her falling for him instead, help me," she said bluntly, pulling Aaron next to her.  
"Wow, you do know she's older than you, right?" Clint chuckled.  
"I don't care, she's hot," shrugged Aaron in amusement.  
"Well, would you look at that, a mini you," Clint commented to Tony. Tony looked to Aaron, then did a double take when he noticed Rose's outfit, and whistled.  
"You look like your phone number should be written on the bathroom wall," he commented. Rose twirled about to show off her new dress, smirking at his reaction. "I thought you didn't know how to dress like a girl!" That earned him a glare and a smack on the shoulder. With that, Rose turned to greet the other guests and Avengers.  
"You look beautiful tonight, Lady Rose!" Thor complimented loudly, earning a few looks from the others around him. "It is no wonder that many of the men will not stop staring." Rose flashed him a smirk and raised an eyebrow, placing a finger to her lips. She loved how Thor's comments were so blunt, but he always said them so loudly.  
"Quiet down, Blondie, I think they heard you over in China," she joked. "But thanks. Not too shabby yourself." Thor nodded in understanding, grinning sheepishly. Rose gave him a pat on the back before noticing Nat and Bruce weren't talking anymore, and that Aaron was taking a break from flirting with every other girl at the party and asking for their phone number to seize the opportunity. She rolled her eyes, and went over to the bar where the two were.  
"Could I get a margarita?" he asked, flashing Natasha a smile. She returned the favor, and started making the alcoholic beverage.  
"Make that two," Rose said, sitting down beside Aaron. "So what were you and Green Boy talking about?" she asked with a devious smirk.  
"Don't call him that," chastised Natasha lightly. "He was just complimenting my dress. And could you say it a little louder? I don't think the people in China heard you."  
"Oh, come on, Red, even I have to admit it's obvious he's into you," Aaron agreed. "Are you two going to be a thing anytime soon, because if not, I'm free at eleven tomorrow."  
"I'm working on it," smirked Natasha. "And nice to see you can squeeze me in with all the other girls you've got in your schedule."  
"Anything for you, Tasha. What can I say? I like the color red," he shot back. _Not even bothering to deny it_ , thought Rose as she shook her head. _Once again, smooth._  
"We're not getting any younger, here, Nat!" Rose exclaimed impatiently.  
"Quiet, you," she warned. "If either of you try to play matchmaker, I will make sure neither of you get champagne for a year." Aaron's eyes widened in disbelief, while both Rose's eyebrows rose and disappeared beneath her hairline. She wouldn't..."Try me," Natasha challenged.  
"Yes, ma'am!" Aaron replied quickly, holding up his hands in surrender, and nodding obediently.  
"Good. So while Mr. Player here has been picking up girls, anyone catch your eye, Rose?" Natasha questioned. Rose looked at her incredulously.  
"Yeah, anyone you're planning on hooking up with?" Aaron grinned, earning a slap on the shoulder from his best friend and a soft giggle from Natasha.  
"I've told you, Nat, and I've told _you_ , mister, multiple times, that dating is a no," Rose told them both, folding her arms across her chest.  
Aaron fixed her with a confused look as Nat handed them their drinks. "Why? I mean, we both have an excuse for being mistrustful of people, but you don't see that stopping me from playing 'How many phone numbers can I get in one hour' with Dad, do you?" he asked. He looked over to a nearby table where Bucky was chatting with Sam and Steve. Once Bucky noticed Aaron's gaze, he waved a piece of paper with numbers written on it up in the air with a smug look on his face. Aaron whirled around back to both women, and took a long, furious sip of his drink. "Seriously, how is he beating me at this?! I've only got six while he's got ten, and he's got the social skills of Rose!"  
"Well, I hear he was quite the charmer back in the 40s," grinned Natasha. "And he's right, Rose. Not all people are as bad as...you know, them." Rose glared at her as she took a long sip of her margarita, the image of a black octopus in a red background being seared into her mind after Natasha mentioned it just like the symbol had been seared into her skin when she was twelve. "You should at least go on a few dates, Rosie. Not all people are horrible. And it's been a while. Please, I'd be happy if you walked in here with a boy on your arm at least _once. Y_ ou have to start mixing it up."  
A frown formed on Rose's lips and she shook her head. At her reaction, Nat knew she'd accidently hit a nerve. "I'll die first," she snapped. "Dating is a waste of time. And it's not like anyone here would want to date me anyway, so what's the point?" Unpleasant memories came back to surface that she had spent the rest of the week since the H.Y.D.R.A. raid getting rid of. "It's like you said a while ago, love is for children. And I don't even remember what love feels like, so I really want nothing to do with it."  
"Sorry, Rose, it's just...Trust me, no one knows better than I do that something like that is a hard thing to get over," Nat attempted, trying to fix her blunder. Even Aaron had gone quiet at his best friend's words. It was true, what did either of the teens knew about love, especially if they could barely even remember a thing about being loved? "I just think a boy might help you out a bit, that's all."  
"I'm perfectly fine with just Aaron. I don't need another boy's help," Rose shrugged, playing with her drink, violet energy encasing it and moving it around on the counter in circles. "I'm still rooting for you and Bruce, but for me..." She trailed off, and laughed at the thought of her falling in love anytime soon. "It's a bit pathetic in my opinion. It's annoying and not very appealing, I mean to commit yourself to that person. Aaron hasn't been in an actual serious relationship since Jasmine because it was getting in the way of what he does for a living." From his seat, the mentioned lifted his drink and nodded in agreement. "We're too busy with our work life. We can never keep work at work, it always follows us home. What am I supposed to say if he wants me to come over? _'Sorry, hon, can't. I'm trying to take out all these guards to recover a Norse god's scepter. Dinner's in the fridge. xoxo.'?_ Nuh-uh, not happening. Dating is ridiculous and useless. Love itself is a weakness."  
"Amen," agreed Aaron. The two both raised their glasses at the same time, and clinked them against each other before going back to drinking it, and finished their margaritas in one gulp.  
"Huh, how inspirational," commented Natasha dryly. "I can't wait until the day you both fall in love, and find out you're wrong. Until then, I'll be waiting...and praying."  
"Hey!" Rose exclaimed, all previous anger released but not forgotten.  
"It's true," grinned Nat. "You don't have to date if you don't want to, but I'd like it to happen before we all die of old age."  
"I'm not dating anyone, anytime," finalized Rose. "But I wish you all the luck in the world with Bruce."  
"Ditto," her best friend smiled. "See you around, Red. Although, um, maybe you could both help me out by making my total of phone numbers eight?" With a simultaneous roll of their eyes, both women got out a pen and wrote down their phone numbers on one napkin, Natasha's on the top and Rose's on the bottom. Aaron smirked triumphantly, took it, and turned to where he could see Bucky again, raising the paper above his head for him to see. "Two for one, beat that!" he taunted loudly with a smug look, receiving a dirty look from Bucky in return, to which he responded by sticking out his tongue. He turned back to the girls with a surprisingly straight face. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a game to win."  
"Good luck," giggled Nat as he left.  
"That boy will be the death of me," Rose groaned, burying her face. "And speaking of boys..." She trailed off, noticing the adorably dorky Bruce shyly coming over to the bar. "I'll give you guys your space."  
Walking off, Rose took a moment to hide in the elevator to pull herself together. She didn't know why even the simplest mention of H.Y.D.R.A could set her off, sometimes. It was a recurring nightmare she could never escape no matter how hard she tried, and she hated being as vulnerable as she was. No tears came to her eyes, though. Rose couldn't cry anymore, she no longer had the ability to cry, which is why that one moment she did irked her so much. Thanks to that flashback the enhanced gave her back at the H.Y.D.R.A base, she could remember when she learned that lesson as if it happened yesterday.

 _"Harder! Or I'll break your arm next!" the Winter Soldier growled at her as eleven-year-old Rose laid on the floor, in pain from when the soldier just broke her ribs from punching her so hard in the stomach. Another training session, where she'd have to fight him, but after getting to know him, she had begun to pull her punches. She knew this was a test, to see if she would let that affect her performance...and she was failing. They were looking for an excuse to hurt her, an excuse to beat her. They all knew she could easily win this battle if she would stop holding back._ _  
_ _She refused to use her powers against him, knowing that if she thought it, it would happen. All she had to do was think it, and it'd happen, and she wouldn't even have to twitch a muscle. Oh, how she hated it. She could never lose her temper or anything like that because of the experiment they conducted on her a month ago. She might even be able to level the entire building if she got in the wrong mood. So she held back. It was an unfair advantage, and she couldn't bring herself to do that to her friend._  
No, I can't fail, _Rose thought to herself._ I have to get back up, I've got to fight.  
 _The tears began to fall down her face as she struggled to get up, the pain beginning to get to her. Pain was a sensation she still hadn't learn to shut off, though she was supposed to. She cried out, and fell down again, the tears coming much faster. She wanted to go home, to go back to her mother, to see her friends again._ _  
_ _"Don't cry," the Winter Soldier warned. Rose raised her head to look at him. "Don't cry or they'll hurt you."_ _  
_ _"But you're hurting me!" cried Rose, backing away until her back hit the wall when he tried to approach her. "Just leave me alone! I want to go home!"_ _  
_ _"You can't," he hissed, his voice urgent. "Quick, get up and pretend you're fine and hit me. Before they come." Growing up, Rose learned to understand that_ they _were everyone at H.Y.D.R.A who wouldn't hesitate to put them back in their places if they stepped a toe out of line. To them, people like her, Aaron, and the Winter Soldier were nothing but animals._  
 _Rose struggled to stand up, her face tear-streaked. When she finally got back up, she placed herself in a fighting stance, and punched the soldier in the face before he even saw it coming. Too late, though. That didn't mean_ they _didn't see the moment of weakness._ _  
_ _The next week was spent trying to get rid of that weakness. They said it was to make her strong, that crying would only make her weak. And eventually, she began to believe them. Whatever happened then, she never told anyone exactly what, but it worked, and when she was finally released from her week of torture, in her next training session, she was practically unrecognizable to the Winter Soldier._ _  
_ _Rose's face remained impassive, now even her eyes void of any emotion. Before, while she had learned to keep all emotion off her face, her blue-green eyes were one thing that couldn't hold back what she was feeling. They had used to change color to match her emotions, lighting up when she was happy, darkening when she was mad, but always with that spark that held life in them. Now there was...nothing. By that time, if Aaron wasn't with her, she truly felt like she couldn't feel anything anymore._ _  
_ _Rose got into a fighting stance. After a few minutes of her barely tapping him, the Winter Soldier punched her hard in the stomach, dropping her to her knees. Anger flashed through her eyes for a second, and a malevolent smirk appeared on her face. She had lowered his defenses just the slightest by pretending to still be holding back, and that was all she needed. She flipped back up to her feet, and kicked him in the jaw with the heel of her boot, then dropped quickly and swiped his legs out from under him with her own. He stumbled back a few steps, and tilted his head at her in abject pride before squaring his shoulders and advancing on her._ _  
_ _He threw a metal fist at her face to which she dodged, ducking down before kicking her legs up, and wrapping them around his neck, locking the metal arm to her chest with both hands. She threw her full weight at him, causing him to stumble again. While he was off balance, Rose pulled back, and flipped him over, pinning him to the ground and dislocating the elbow of his metal arm. An impressive move for an eleven-year-old girl. He had taught her well._ _  
_ _His arm whirred and grinded before the joint finally clicked back in place. He threw his elbow into her stomach, and reached up to grab her throat when Rose grabbed the knife she'd snatched from a nearby guard on her way in, and held it close to his throat. He stopped cold, and knew he'd lost since in one swift movement Rose could easily slit his throat. "Try me, I will do it," she challenged darkly._ _  
_  
Since then, she hadn't cried until all her worst memories had been brought back. Defeating the Winter Soldier had made her believe in herself more, and made her try harder to be better. At the age of twelve, knives were her specialty, and anyone in the base, she could beat in record time. That was why she'd tried to escape with Aaron that day. They hadn't made it thirty miles before being caught again, and they were punished yet again.  
In the elevator, as she was brought out of her memories, she looked down at the underside of her left arm. Glaring out at her was a black octopus in a red background, the symbol of H.Y.D.R.A that _they_ had branded into her skin. It was a lesson, to remind her who was always in charge, who was in control, and that no matter how far they ran, they wouldn't be able to run from them. That was another thing that stuck. Though many years had passed since then, the memories and pain were still fresh in her mind, and could never be erased, just like the symbol on her arm.  
Finally, she shook herself out of it, and decided to go back out into the party. She walked into the room, and leaned onto the couch where she caught Sam, Bucky. "So, boys, ready for a challenge?" she teased. "A challenge of pool, that is. We all know I'd beat you guys up if you were to actually challenge me, remember, Buck?"  
"Once, she beat me once when she was eleven, and she will never let it go," he sighed.  
"An eleven-year-old beat you up?" asked Sam incredulously. "Forget her, I'm never going to let it go. The great Winter Soldier, beaten by a little girl."  
"On second thought, let's play. I'd like to beat you at something again for once," Bucky challenged.  
"You're on."  
The trio played against each other, the first time being Bucky against Rose, and then Rose against Sam. The first time, Rose won and now Bucky was sulking on the couch. The second time, Sam had been determined to win, but she was way more competitive than him, and refused to accept defeat. At the last moment, she got an insanely good hit and won again, leaving both boys sulking. Rose blew them both a kiss, and laughed it off. "What, can't accept that you just lost to 'a little girl?'" she taunted before flipping her hair over her shoulder flauntingly, and going over to Steve and Thor.  
"Hey," she chirped, surprising both to her presence. "Anything up?"  
"Nothing much," shrugged Steve. "Thor here is just bragging about Asgard." Rose snorted, and raised an eyebrow.  
"Oh, yeah," she challenged. "Tahiti Beach, Maui. The Bahamas. Beat that." Thor merely laughed and pulled out a flask.  
"I gotta have some of that stuff," said an old man beside them. Rose nodded in agreement, her curiosity getting the best of her.  
"Oh, no, no, no," Thor protested with a smug smile. "See, this was aged for a thousand years, in the barrels built from the wreck of Brunhilde's feet. It is not meant for mortal men." He poured a shot for himself and Steve, and after getting a hard look from her, handed one to Rose.  
"I'm neither completely mortal, nor man so it's fine for me," she smirked, gloating a bit by shaking it, the contents swishing inside. "It's still not meant for mortal men, though. Oh, what a shame."  
"Neither was Omaha Beach, Girlie. Stop trying to scare us." Rose choked back a laugh, and gestured for Thor to oblige. "C'mon, Blondie."  
Thor smirked as he poured the old man a shot. "Alright." The man drinks, keeping eye contact. Five seconds later, he's passed out on the table. A chuckle left Rose's throat as she shook her head. They both did tell him.  
After that, Rose stuck around a bit more, chatting with the boys, and Natasha a bit before hanging out with Aaron, pulling him away from flirting with a blond, who until Rose came along, had been locking lips with him. Aaron seemed to be enjoying it so he was in a foul mood for the next five minutes before moving onto the pretty brunette that passed him by, and invited her to sit with him and Rose. Surprisingly, Rose enjoyed getting to know her, and actually felt sorry for when she realized Aaron was only playing her because of her looks and that after she was out of the picture for a few minutes, he'd move onto the next ditzy girl who fell for his charms.  
By the time most of the guests had gone home, the gang gathered around a small coffee table. Aaron had introduced himself to Maria Hill the same way he introduced himself to all women he liked to flirt with.  
"Name's Aaron Barnes, and you are?" he asked, shaking her hand.  
"Maria Hill," she smiled. He kissed her hand with that signature grin of his.  
"Nice to meet you, Maria Hill," he smirked.  
Rose buried her head in her hands as she sat down on the couch by Steve. "Please, stop."  
"Can't I say hi to anyone?" Aaron demanded defensively.  
Maria looked to her with a shrug. "I honestly don't mind."  
"Of course you don't," she mumbled. As the night wore on, her eyebrows arched once Thor started bragging about him being "worthy" and whatever. Rose didn't buy it one bit. If anything, that only made her want to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face.  
"So, 'Whoever he be worthy should haveth the power-'" Aaron said in a deep voice imitating a British accent, beating Rose saying it by one second. "What _ever_ , man!" he exclaimed. At this point, almost everyone was drunk except for the two super soldiers in the room being Bucky, and Steve. Even Rose herself had one too many glasses of Thor's Asgardian ale, which was the only thing that could get her the slightest bit drunk, and she was kinda enjoying it.

"It's rigged!" she said loudly. "That's the only explanation!  
"Yeah, it's a trick!" agreed Clint.  
Thor only chuckled. "Well, please, be my guest!" he offered with an arrogant grin, gesturing to the hammer sitting on the table. Clint hesitated for a moment, then laughed and got up from the couch.  
"Clint, you've had a rough week, and none of us will hold it against you if you can't get it up," Rose said dismissively. He just shot her a playful glare, and she patted him on the back.  
"You know I've seen this before, right?" said Clint as he grasped the handle of Mjolnir. Once he had a firm grip, he pulled. Nothing happened. It didn't budge an inch. He looked at it annoyed, and added his other hand. Still nothing. Aaron barked a laugh, and started applauded him.  
"Don't worry, Hawkeye. You're still a winner in our hearts," he said, wiping away an imaginary tear. The archer glared in his direction and rolled his eyes.  
"Well, please, Barnes, by all means," he shot back, stepping away. Aaron tried to keep a bored expression on his face, but gave up halfway in, and grinned widely. After a moment's contemplation, he jumped up from the couch over to the hammer. With a smug look on his face, he slowly curled his fingers around the handle, and added his other hand. He took a deep breath, and pulled. It doesn't move. Not an inch. Letting out a huff of frustration, he placed his foot on the table, and used it to help pull. Still nothing.  
"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed, giving the hammer a kick before returning to his seat, his pride bruised. Rose patted him on the back sympathetically.  
Tony laughed. "Do you smell the silent judgement?"  
Aaron's eyes flashed angrily, and he almost got up if Rose hadn't put out a hand to stop him. "Then you know what? Why don't you try?" she asked, pointing a silver fingernail at him. Tony huffed, and walked confidently over to the hammer. The people on the couch begin muttering.  
"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," he said smugly. Rose couldn't keep the smirk off her face. "So, if I lift this, I get to rule Asgard."  
"Yes, yes, of course," Thor replied, not even trying to hide the grin on his face. Steve was covering his mouth next to Rose, struggling not to laugh.  
"If he lifts it then all of Asgard is doomed," chuckled Rose, earning a playful glare from Tony and a snort from Aaron. Tony put his hand through the leather strap.  
"I will be fair but firmly cruel," he remarked arrogantly. "And I will be reinstituting Prima Nocta." Then he pulled. Nothing. Rose's smirk grew wider as Tony turned around, and walked away from the table. "I will be right back." When he does come back, he has on his Iron thruster. But still nothing when he pulls the hammer. Rhodey came up beside him, added on his hand, and started helping.  
"Are you even pulling?" he asked Tony.  
"Wait, are you even on my team?" he shot back.  
"Just represent, pull!" Rhodey instructed. When their combined strength couldn't lift the hammer, Bruce went up to try. Not being able to get it up, he pretended to hulk out as a joker, flailing his arms and pretending to roar.  
No one found it too funny, and Rose arched a pierce eyebrow at Bruce before shouting, "Next!"  
"I bet Steve's worthy," announced Bucky from his seat, pushing his best friend out of his chair towards Mjolnir. After giving him a dirty look, Steve grabbed the handle, and pulled. It budged an inch on the table, and everyone held their breath. Rose smirked and stuck out her tongue out at Thor, whose expression was priceless at seeing Steve almost being able to lift the hammer. But then Steve couldn't move it any further, and sat back down next to his daughter.  
"Oh, come on," she groaned, burying her face in her hands as she saw Thor's smug look come back. Thor then started laughing. His confidence was beginning to get to her, and she thought of how much she wanted to strangle him right now.  
"Widow?" Steve asked. Natasha shook her head, rolling her eyes with a smirk.  
"Oh no, that's a question I don't need answered," she replied with a laugh.  
"What about you two?" Aaron asked, his gaze landing on his best friend and his father. Rose and Bucky looked at each other for a moment as if contemplating it, and bursted out laughing.  
"You think that...Us? Worthy?" Rose said in between laughs. The thought itself was hilarious. They had both done so many things, that them being worthy to hold Mjolnir was highly unlikely.  
"Nice one," Bucky agreed, stiffling his laughter. Rose was laughing so hard, she would've fallen over had Steve not been there. Okay, maybe she was more than a little tipsy.  
Steve took her glass away from her, and held it away from her, but Rose was too busy laughing to noticed. "I think that's enough ale for you."  
"All the difference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged!" Aaron exclaimed flippantly.  
"You bet your ass," Clint agreed.  
"Steve, he just said a bad word," taunted Maria. Steve sighed.  
"How many people did you guys tell about that?" he asked, the question directed at Tony, Rose, and Aaron. Between the three of them, probably everyone in New York knew by now. Regaining her seriousness, Rose shrugged, faking innocence.  
"The handle's imprinted," said Tony arrogantly. "It's a security code. Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints, I think is the literal translation."  
"Yes, well, that's, uh...Well, that's a very, very...interesting theory. I have a simpler one." With a grin, he picks up Mjolnir, and flipped it in his hand. "You're all not worthy."  
Rose groaned and rolled her eyes as did everyone else. "No one likes a showoff." But just then, a loud screeching noise was heard. She grimaced at the sound, and Aaron whimpered, covering his ears, trying to block out the sound if only for a bit. Everyone stood up, and looked to the wall. What Rose saw shocked her. A robot, mutilated and sparking, stood there, wires hanging down from its arms.  
"No..." it said in a low, robotic voice. Except, it didn't sound completely robotic or monotonous like other robots. In fact, it almost sounded...human. "How could any of you be worthy? You're all killers." It picked up the head, and crushed it in its hand while Rose stared, eyes wide, the most expression she ever allowed herself to show in front of the enemy, for that's what it seemed this robot might be. Could this be...Ultron? No, it couldn't be, not after Tony said the program failed...  
"Tony," Rose hissed, anger evident in her voice. If this was his fault, she was going to kick his butt so hard, he wouldn't even be able to hold a thought in his head. She told him, she told him this would've been a bad idea. Did he listen? No.  
At the sound of her voice, the robot looked at her, and Steve began protectively inching closer. Once he was close enough, he pulled her slightly behind him back to shield her. The protective gesture made an unknown feeling make her feel more at ease as she breathed in his scent. His brother instinct taking over, Aaron stood beside her, a bad feeling bubbling in the pit of his stomach. And his instincts were never wrong.  
"Stark," Steve said.  
"Jarvis?" Tony called out lowly.  
"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the robot said slowly. "Or...I was a dream."  
"Jarvis, reboot. Legionaries, got a buggy suit here," Tony tried again, but nothing happened.  
"There was a terrible noise...and I was tangled...in strings..." continued the robot. "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy..." It wobbled on its mutilated, broken metal feet as it explained.  
"You killed someone?" Aaron demanded, Rose looking pointedly in Tony's direction.  
"Wouldn't have been my first call, but in the real world, we're faced with some ugly choices," it replied, looking from Bucky to the two teenagers standing behind Steve. Or at least she thought it was looking at them. Rose could hear Bucky's breath hitch at his words, and Aaron look down guiltily at his feet, though she felt nothing. It knew what they had all done over the years, didn't it? If it did, that was no surprise; almost everyone knew. Unlike the boys, Rose had no shame in what she did, no regret, for nothing she did would ever be able to bring back all those she killed, no "sorry" could bring them back to life or anything. But it couldn't know what happened with Aaron all those years ago, could it? It wasn't as if anyone beside her and his father knew.  
"Who sent you?" Thor demanded, his voice low and threatening. Instead of an answer, a voice played out on the speakers.  
"I see a suit of armor around the world," a recording of Tony's voice announced.  
"Ultron," Bruce breathed. As if the words were a trigger, Rose's muscles tensed up, feeling the violet energy begin to gather at her fingertips.  
"In the flesh. Or no, not this...chrysalis," answered Ultron. "But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."  
"What mission?" questioned Aaron.  
"Peace of our time." At his words, Aaron's hands crackled with electricity despite the gloves. Taking off his gloves, electricity ran over his hands, just as prepared as Rose to attack Ultron should he get too close for comfort to any of them. But, it wasn't him they had to worry about. Because at that moment, the wall exploded, and out came the flying Legionnaires.

Author's note: So, hey guys! Um, this is honestly the most pages I've ever done in one chapter. So, I hope you like it, and tell me what you think. I'm not sure whether or not I overdid with Rose objecting to falling in love anytime soon. What, did you think she was going to fall for Pietro like that? No, I expect it to happen after a long while, if he can tolerate her long enough that is. Anyway, party officially crashed and ruined by Ultron. Until next time!


	5. Chapter 4: Collateral Damage

The team quickly sprang into action as they saw the imminent attack, Maria ducking down behind the couch for cover while the others except Steve and Rose dashed to the sides of the room. Aaron quickly grabbed two guns out from two hidden holsters he'd stashed under the table, and tossed one to Bucky before running to grab Helen, diving to throw them both for cover behind a grand piano. Steve kicked up the coffee table as the Legionnaires made their way towards him and Rose.  
Together, both Rogers kicked it out to shield themselves, blocking the blast the Iron Legion sent their way, but as the robots rammed into the table, the force of it shoved it back onto them. Both they and the table went flying back, sending Rose sprawling onto the ground as her skull made contact with the floor.  
"Rose!" Aaron shouted. He stood up, and fired from behind the piano at the robots. Luckily Rose and Steve were both quickly back on their feet. Rose stayed behind, her hands encased with violet energy while Steve ran forward to join the fight. Aaron turned back to Helen, and ordered, "You stay here!" Helen nodded, and he was about to leave when he grinned flirtatiously and added, "But maybe a goodbye kiss before I leave?"  
The only answer he got was a slap to the back of the head by Rose as she ran past. She shouted, "Not the time or place!"  
"I get that!" he snapped. He rolled his eyes, and then ran out, firing at the Legionnaires, drawing their fire away Helen. Seeing his gun was doing nothing, he pocketed it, and shot lightning out his hands, and all the robots it struck broke apart in pieces.  
Bucky and Maria were firing their own guns from their places, yet none of the bullets seemed to be doing any damage against Tony's suits. Thor whacked Mjolnir against one of the robots, smashing its head in, and then breaking its body into pieces while Tony and Rhodey ran in another direction. Rose raised her hands, and violet energy encased all the robots in her area, breaking their bodies into pieces. She ducked as two came in her direction, chasing after Tony and Rhodey.  
One flew right into Tony, sending him flying into a bookcase before flying after Clint. Another fired at Rhodey, and the blast sent him back through the glass window leading to the lower levels. "Rhodey!" Maria shouted worriedly. Rose glanced at the window, feeling slight worry for the man, but diverted her attention to the Legionnaire, firing an energy blast at it before it could deliver another fatal shot. It flew back, and Thor whacked it with Mjolnir, trying to stop it from getting up as he fought it.  
The other robot nearby fired at Clint, but he neatly dodged it by ducking for cover beneath one of the many booth counters. Rose drew the dagger she'd concealed under her dress, and threw it at the robot to make it leave him alone. It dug itself into the robot's chest, and took its attention from Clint as it turned to her, the tip of the blade of the dagger sticking out of its chest. On the plus side, it worked, it wasn't after the archer anymore; on the downside, it was now firing at her.  
Rose ran, ducking blaster fire as she ran for cover. She skidded under a booth, narrowly avoiding a blast that singed the ground right where her leg was only a split second ago. She looked out from her hiding place, and stared at the robot firing at her. Instantly it exploded apart into pieces, scattering onto the floor in front of her.  
Nat and Bruce ran for cover behind the bar counter, avoiding another Iron Legion robot. Rose simply prayed Natasha could keep Bruce from going green. And that Natasha remembered the gun hidden beneath the counter Rose hid just for an occasion like this. But then again, the fact that Nat choose to run to the bar counter surely meant she did. The last thing they needed to top this night off was a visit from the other guy.  
Sure enough, Rose heard another gun begin to fire from Nat's hiding place, meaning she'd reached for her gun. Rose made her dagger fly through the air toward her, and grabbed it in the air. She jumped when a blast hit the booth, causing it to begin to collapse. She teleported from underneath to out in the open, and was going to fire at a robot about to shoot at her when Steve suddenly sprung out of nowhere, and jumped on the robot.  
"Rose, get to cover!" he ordered as he tried to pull out the wires inside the robot.  
"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself!" she snapped, but still obeyed, heading to the upper floor. Rose stopped once she heard a crash from behind, and whipped back around to see the Iron Legionnaire robot had flown upwards and backwards to smash Steve into the wall before flinging the super-soldier down into the bar area  
Noticing his friend's predicament, Bucky aimed his gun at the robot, and fired, distracting it momentarily before he ran for cover with Aaron. Someone else was also heard firing their gun at the Iron Legionnaire chasing them as Rose yelled sharply, "Stark!"  
"One sec, one sec," the man answered in an aggravated tone.  
Rose ran around, blasting apart the robot following her best friend (as much as she said she cared about everyone equally, which was to say not at all, Aaron came first no matter what. Not that she didn't care about Bucky of course). She glanced over her shoulder to see Tony dangling on the robot that had been the over firing at Nat and Bruce. The robot still hovered at the upper floor level, struggling against Tony's chokehold as he tried to push a metal skewer into its neck.  
The redhead assassin and scientist in question had run for more secure cover on the upper floor, and quickly Rose started to make her way after them. She cut off suddenly when another blast narrowly missed her, yet another robot shooting at the path she was heading. She rolled to the side before the robot could fire at her again. The other one sped off to shoot at Bruce and Nat, while the one chasing her continued to shoot at her. With an agitated sigh, Rose rolled her eyes, and exclaimed sarcastically, "Wow, these guys must really be desperate to get us to stay for cake!"  
Rose noticed a gun sprawled on the floor next to her, and fired at the robot before Thor jumped in, and smashed it, sending the upper part flying. "Thanks, big guy," Rose said, giving him a thumbs up to assure him she was fine. Then she noticed the robot was still active, and it rose and flew...towards the piano.  
Aaron noticed the same thing, and threw his empty gun at it as it paused before Helen, drawing its attention once more when the gun hit it hard in the head. While it turned to him, Steve ran in, grabbing the robot, and throwing it sharply backwards, yelling, "Thor!"  
Thor responded by smashing Mjolnir straight at its head. Rose ran over to check on Aaron while they continued their fight.  
"Don't worry, I'm fine," he spat out, waving her away.  
"Duck!" Bucky cried, grabbing both of them, and pulling them down with him as the robot that had been chasing Bruce and Natasha began firing at everyone randomly. A loud crash sounded as Tony finally managed to bring down his robot, although he fell down with it onto the broken glass below on the floor.  
Rose glanced at Aaron with a determined look on her face he knew well. "Stay down," she ordered. Knowing better than to argue with her, he nodded, and stayed crouched, watching her run back out into the fight. Natasha kept firing shots at the remaining Legionnaire, using up the last of her ammunition trying to get it to stop firing at the team.  
It turned to focus its fire on her when Clint shouted, "Cap!"  
Clint threw the shield he ran to fetch, and Rose ducked as it whirled above her head. Steve ran up and jumped into the air to catch it. He used his momentum to spin around in the air, and throw his shield at the robot, smashing the Iron Legionnaire to pieces. There was an almighty crash as both the dead robot and the shield fell to the ground. An abrupt silence finally fell upon the room.  
Aaron and Bucky got up from their spot. Rose's chest heaved up and down from, and her heart slightly pounded in her chest from all the commotion, something she always felt whenever something like this happened. The Avengers slowly stood up, all breathing heavily yet still poised to fight.  
"Well, that was dramatic," Ultron commented dryly. Rose glared at him. Tony collapsed on the steps beside him, wincing, while Maria and Helen stood up at last. "I'm sorry. I know you mean well," Ultron continued. Steve and Thor slowly approached him, staring with deep frowns. "You just didn't think it through."  
Aaron frowned from his spot as well, glancing down at Tony before turning his attention back to Ultron. "You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change," he went on.  
Tony glanced at Rose before looking away from the withering look she sent his way, instead meeting eyes with Bruce. Both scientists lowered their heads slightly as Ultron hummed, "How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?"  
Natasha glanced at Bruce, sending him an almost disappointed look, while Clint locked his jaw, slowly moving around the edges of the room, heading to join Rose. Ultron picked up one of the dismembered robots around him. His next words were spoken almost scathingly. "With these? These puppets?"  
Suddenly, he crushed the Iron Legionnaire's head in his hand, destroying it even further. He tossed it aside as if disgusted by it. Tony's eyes narrowed slightly, almost thoughtfully, as he leaned forward. "There's only one path to peace: The Avengers extinction," snarled Ultron.  
Rose's eyes flared angrily, anger boiling up inside her, and Thor threw Mjolnir at Ultron furiously, smashing Ultron to pieces. Steve stared at Thor in disbelief, but the god had already pulled Mjolnir back into his hand, looking absolutely incensed. The team all tensed when they heard the sound of Ultron singing brokenly just before the robot shut down. "I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me…"  
A silence fell upon the room until Aaron broke it with a slight shudder. "So are we all screwed or what?" he asked.  
"No duh," Rose muttered besides him. The group walked into Tony's lab, and he placed Ultron's head on the desk. The full weight of what just happened suddenly hit the two teenagers hard, and while all Rose felt was anger about the situation, she could feel Aaron's fear. He started breathing heavily, trying to steady himself. Rose placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. While it wasn't exactly much, he knew that was about as far as comfort went for her so he took what he could get, and relaxed slightly at her touch.  
"All our work is gone," Bruce mumbled, looking at his monitors. "Ultron cleared it all out. He used the internet as an escape mechanism."  
"Gee, if only there was someone who had told you two this would be a bad idea," said Rose sarcastically. "Oh wait, I did. So let me just get this out of the way: I told you so."  
"Do you Starks never listen?" Aaron grumbled, placing his hand on his forehead, shaking his head slightly.  
"Ultron," Steve said in frustration. Honestly, Rose couldn't blame her father. They had finally got the scepter out of H.Y.D.R.A.'s reach only for Tony to go and create a killer robot, completely ignoring her advice to shut the project down. They could have just been done with the scepter, send it off, and never see it again, but no, now they had to go look for it again. Even worse, Ultron somehow knew everything about them. And just as she warned Tony, it was certainly going to be difficult to defeat him.  
Just the mere thought of it infuriated Rose beyond belief. She glared daggers at the back of Tony's head.  
"He's been in everything," muttered Natasha. "Files, surveillance codes, he probably knows more about us than we know about each other.  
"Damn," Aaron said quietly. Rose had no problem with revealing her past, but could easily tell he hated this, considering their ones, the same going for Nat. Neither of them wanted anyone to know about it, and having someone (robot or human) shuffle through their files must be horrible for them.  
"He's been in your files, in the internet," Rhodey said. "But if he decides to access something a little more exciting..."  
"Nuclear codes," Bucky finished for him, a worried look entering his eyes. That would be a horrible worldwide disaster.  
"We need to make some calls, assuming we still can," continued Rhodey.  
"Nukes. He said he wants us all dead," Aaron retorted, speaking up.  
"Kid's right," Nat agreed. _This was bad._ Rose could hear those words in all their thoughts. And she agreed wholeheartedly.  
"Not dead. He said extinct," she corrected. "Although that's not exactly better."  
"He also said he killed someone," Bucky pointed out. "But how? According to Clint, there was no one else in the building."  
"Well, that's not exactly true," said Rose. Tony pulled up a hologram of JARVIS. It's broken up, or more like destroyed. Bruce began to examine it.  
"JARVIS was our first line of defense," Tony explained, studying the hologram. "He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."  
"No, it doesn't," contradicted Rose. "This...This is insanity."  
"She's right," Bruce agreed. "Ultron could've assimilated JARVIS. This isn't strategy...This is rage."  
Thor's footsteps thundered closer and closer to the room, and once he enters, anyone can clearly see he's enraged. He picked Tony up by his neck, and held him against the wall.  
"Come on, buddy, use your words," Tony said frantically, trying to calm the god down.  
"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," he boomed. Rose rolled her eyes, and ripped Thor's hand away from Tony's neck, holding it firmly to keep him from regaining his grip.  
"Honestly, do I have to do this every time you boys have an argument?" she snapped. "Trust me, when this is over, I'll be the first in line to give a good knock on the head. Maybe it'll even make him smarter. But for now, fighting among ourselves isn't going to solve anything." She angrily threw his hand aside, and stormed back to Aaron's side. He noticeably stepped away a few steps so he wouldn't be on the receiving side of her rage next.  
"Thor, the Legionnaire?" Steve cut in to avoid any further arguments.  
The trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but its heading north. And it has the scepter."  
"Great," Rose grumbled sarcastically. "Now we have to chase it all over again."  
"The genie's out of the bottle. Clear and present is Ultron," said Natasha from her spot at the computer, typing away.  
"I don't understand," Helen said. "You created the program. Why is it trying to kill us?" Suddenly, Tony started laughing. Rose glared at him while Aaron shook his head frantically with a look that clearly said, 'Shut up unless you want someone else to strangle you!' Bruce shook his head as well. But no, he couldn't stop laughing. After receiving harsh glares from everyone in the room, he struggled to stop.  
"You think this is funny?" Bucky demanded angrily, voicing what practically everyone was thinking concerning Tony.  
"No. It's probably not, right?" Rose raised an eyebrow. Had Tony had too much to drink? Probably. Everyone looked at him in confusion, their faces ranging from confusion to annoyance to downright lividness. He just created a killer A.I, and now he's laughing about it. At that moment, Rose made up her mind that next time someone tried to strangle the billionaire, she wasn't going to help. "This is very terrible," he laughed again. "Is it so...is it so...it is...it's so terrible."  
Thor pointed an accusatory finger at him, and stepped forward angrily. "This would have been avoided if you had not played with something you didn't understand!" he roared.  
"That's what I said, but does anyone listen to me?" Rose scoffed. Everyone ignored her.  
"No!" Tony suddenly said loudly. "I'm sorry, it is."  
Aaron's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Steve could've sworn he saw a spark come out of his hands. "It's _funny_?" he said through gritted teeth. "It's _funny_ that you nearly got us all killed from one of _your_ creations?!"  
Rose put a hand on his chest to stop him and calm him down, remembering what happened to the last person who kept pushing his temper until he snapped. And she certainly didn't want anyone else finding out just how dangerous Aaron could be if he got into the wrong mood. "Breathe," she hissed into his ear. Reluctantly, she could tell, Aaron took a deep breath, and loudly exhaled. The sparks faded from his hand, and Rose visibly relaxed.  
"It's a hoot that you guys don't understand the need for something like this!" Tony exclaimed. Rose scoffed. The need for a killer robot? He's right on that one. She certainly doesn't see the need for that.  
"Tony..." Bruce interrupted timidly. "Maybe this might not be the perfect time-"  
"Really?" Tony asked accusingly, turning to the scientist. "That's it? You just roll over onto your belly whenever someone snarls?!"  
"Only when I've created a murder bot," Bruce defended quietly. Rose nodded in his direction in agreement. At least he knew when to admit his mistakes, even if he did help to create Ultron.  
"You're right. And _you_ are off the hook for creating the so-called 'murder bot'," she said before turning her icy glare to Tony who deliberately turned away to avoid it. "Not you though."  
"But we didn't!" he cried, throwing his hands in the air. "We weren't even close! Were we even close to an interface?" Bruce shook his head, giving Tony an apologetic look.  
"Well you did something right," sighed Steve. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different from S.H.I.E.L.D."  
"Anyone remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" cried Tony.  
"No, I don't think it's ever been mentioned," Maria said loudly.  
"Saved New York?" he continued to ask. Rose raised an eyebrow, refusing to side with anyone. "You recall that?" When no one answered, he began to get frustrated. "A hostile alien army came charging through space. We were there hundred feet below it."  
"If no one remembers, let it go, man," Aaron commented with a small grin. Tony ignored him.  
"We're the Avengers. We can bust arms all day, but that up there?" he said. "That's A-Game. How are you guys planning on dealing with all that?"  
"Together," Steve responded, stepping forward.  
"We'll lose," Tony shot back flatly  
"Then we'll do that together too," shrugged Rose just as flatly. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. I'd kinda like to find him before he's ready for us." She glanced at what had been Ultron's broken, mangled body. "The world's a big place, so might as well try to make it a little smaller.

A few hours later, everyone was working on narrowing down Ultron's possible whereabouts. Only difference was, Rose noticed Aaron could hardly keep his eyes open. Twice he nearly dozed off only to jolt himself awake a second later. He must've been exhausted, from the party to the fight with the Legionnaires along with the huge argument that took place afterwards, and he couldn't find the energy to stay awake any longer. She watched him continue looking through some files as he got drowsier and drowsier until he had to hold his head up with both hands, not even noticing he'd forgotten his gloves upstairs to cover up the metal.  
After a few moments of watching his head sink lower and lower only for him to jolt himself awake again, Rose strode over to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and leaned over it. "We got this, don't worry. Get some shut-eye," she whispered to him. Though she knew the real reason he was trying to avoid sleep, the minute she said that, his head fell on top of the coffee table lightly as he passed out cold. And his dreams weren't pleasant. They never were.

 _"Hey, Jas," Aaron smiled as he sauntered into his and his girlfriend's shared apartment. Jasmine had only moved into his a few months ago after her parents kicked her out. There were the occasional bumps along the road but otherwise, everything seemed okay between them. "I'm home!"_

 _He kicked off his shoes, leaving him in only his socks as he turned on the lights and entered the living room. Sitting on the couch was Jasmine, but unlike Aaron, she wasn't smiling. She could only glare at him with what seemed like anger and disappointment in her eyes.  
"Hey," Aaron said lightly, trying to lighten the mood. Despite himself, the way she looked at him made his body tense up. "How you been?"  
"Where have you been?" she said quietly. Aaron frowned slightly, but replaced it with another easy smile.  
"At the movies with Rose," he replied with a shrug. "Remember? I texted you. It's on your phone. You can check if you want."  
"I know what you said, but is that actually what you did?" Jasmine asked.  
"Yeah," snorted Aaron, walking over to the kitchen to make himself some tea. It soothed him, and helped him keep his cool in arguments, which he could already hear brewing. "You can't possibly think I'm cheating on you. Rose is more like a little sister; I mean, she's just my best friend."  
"No, I believe you on that," Jasmine sighed. "You're not a cheater, Aaron. I know you better than that. But where were you really with Rose?" She finally got up out the couch, and stormed into the kitchen after him. Angrily, she carried a laptop, and placed it down on the counter where Aaron was making his tea. She turned on the news, and it started playing with the news reporter going on about a recent building explosion.  
"This again?" she cried, her voice rising. "You said you'd stop! And here you are still doing it!"  
"You don't know if that was me!" snapped Aaron. "I'm touched you trust me so much. Suddenly you think I can't go one day without this stuff?!"  
"That's another thing." Jasmine disappeared into the living room for a moment before coming back with a large cardboard box in her hands. "I was cleaning out the closet when I found this," she said. "Care to explain?"  
Aaron glared at his girlfriend angrily. "It's nothing," he growled. "Now you better put that back where you found it."  
Glaring back defiantly, Jasmine overturned the box, and dumped the contents onto the counter. Inside there were guns, grenades, knives, and other various weapons. "You better tell me what these are doing in this house because this is our home!" she retorted.  
"And you better stay out of my stuff!" Aaron yelled, startling Jasmine slightly by the harsh tone in his voice. "You know, I've had a bad day, and I thought I'd come home to relax and be with my loving girlfriend, but I guess even here I can't get a break! You're really starting to piss me off, Wood."  
"Feeling's mutual, Barnes!" she shouted back. "I told you to let your past go so we can live a normal life! But do ever listen to me?!"  
"Well, maybe I don't be normal!" he yelled. "Whether you like it or not, this is who I am! And I'm not changing for some blond bimbo!"  
"What did you just call me?!" Jasmine demanded, her voice low and shaking with anger.  
"You heard me, or can you not hear?" taunted Aaron. "I called you a B-I-M-B-O-"  
He suddenly cut off as Jasmine slapped him so hard his head rocked to the side for a moment. "I'm not going to be insulted by a freak whose own mother experimented on him!" she screamed. Electricity sparked all along Aaron's body, and Jasmine's eyes widened when she realized she messed up. Big time.  
When Aaron's head snapped back up, she could see his eyes had become completely blank white, no iris or pupil showing, just pure white. She backed up, deciding it'd be safest to run. Rose had told her that if this ever happened, Aaron wouldn't be home to calm down or anything. He'd be too far gone to help.  
Just as she reached behind her to grab the kitchen knife on the counter, she said quietly, "Aaron, I don't to hurt you, okay? Stay back. I'm serious."  
Before she could say another word, Aaron lunged forward, and wrapped one of his hands around her neck, his expression emotionless. He lifted her off the ground as she struggled to breathe and pry his hand off her throat. It was no use. His grip was like iron. At first Jasmine thought he was planning on making her suffer by slowly choking the life out of her even while she still tried to reach down for the knife. But she was wrong there.  
Electricity ran down his arms to where Jasmine was at the end. She shrieked in pain as he electrocuted her. She continued to struggle, and while he continued to electrocute her, slightly tightening his grip more and more, she was trying not to hurt her boyfriend at the same time, knowing that this wasn't him. This monster was nothing close to the Aaron she knew and loved.  
After a moment or two, Jasmine stopped struggling, and went limp in his arms. Aaron simply stared at her before dropping her onto the floor. She didn't move. And her heart stopped beating.  
Aaron stared until his eyes slowly returned back to normal, the hazel in his eyes reappearing. And the first thing he noticed was Jasmine laying on the floor, sightless eyes staring up at nothing. Looking down at his hands in horror, he knew what had happened. "No, no, no, not again, please," he mumbled to himself desperately. He kneeled besides Jasmine, and checked her wrist for a pulse. Nothing.  
_I killed her, _he thought to himself._ I lost it in one little argument, and I killed her.  
 _He cradled_ _Jasmine's body close to his chest as the tears slowly formed in his eyes. He just killed own girlfriend. How could he kill his own girlfriend?  
Aaron slipped his hand into his pocket, and took out his phone. Shakily, he dialed Rose's number, and put the phone to his ear. "Rose, how fast can you get here?" he said quietly, his voice slightly hoarse._

 _"Oh God," was all Rose said once she set foot into the apartment. Aaron was kneeled over Jasmine, his head down. "It happened again?"  
"We were fighting," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. He sounded so hopeless. "I lost it and blacked out. I didn't even known what happened until I came back. But I didn't mean to kill her."  
For a moment Rose said nothing. She couldn't think of the right thing to say. What could be said? Finally she said quietly, "We should get out of here. Grab your stuff."  
"What?" As Aaron lifted his head, she could see his eyes were red from crying.  
"The neighbors probably heard something, and called the police. Once they hear you two were fighting, and find out it was you who've been setting those bombs, they're going to think she found out, and you killed her to keep her quiet." Rose was already shoving his weapons back into the cardboard box, and grabbing almost everything valuable that was small enough to fit inside to place it in with them. "So get your stuff. You'll be staying at my place until everything cools off. I'll call your dad, and tell him what happened so he can get here to help."  
"Rose, I deserve to go to jail-"  
"Just please shut up and do it!" yelled Rose, cutting him off as she faced him, anger flashing in her eyes. "I've lost too much to people like them, I'm not losing you, too! We stick together no matter what, remember?! And we hurt anyone who gets in the way! It's who we are. And Jasmine's dead because she didn't get that." Her eyes held something like sympathy in them, shaking her head, steadying her voice. "So please just get your stuff so we can get out of here before the police do, and let me handle this. You know how we do this. One of us does something stupid while the other worries about collateral damage."  
A moment passed before Aaron nodded, got up, and walked upstairs to pack up his things quickly and quietly. The last thing he saw was Rose mumbling on the phone to his dad before the memory ended._

 __A splash of water jolted Aaron awake. He looked up to see Rose staring at him. "I saw your dream," she simply said. "Thought I'd better put an end to it before I ended up dealing with a depressed best friend for the rest of the day."  
"And you couldn't have just used your powers to wake me up?" he asked, his face dripping with the water she just splashed in his face a few seconds ago.  
"Now what fun would that be?" she smirked. He noticed she's changed out of her dress and high heels for a black short-sleeved turtleneck and black jeans with brown knee-high combat boots. She's put white highlights in her hair, and washed off all the makeup that'd been there the night before. How long had he been out?  
"Don't think about the past too much," Rose said after a moment's hesitation. "Just be glad you can get to leave it behind."  
"Not sure what you're trying to say by that, but I'll take it however I get it," he shrugged.  
"Good choice," she smiled. She sighed, and put a small white box on the table. "Everyone left already to turn in for the night. But since I knew what you were dreaming about I thought you could use a little something to boost your spirits. I was saving this for your birthday tomorrow, but happy birthday." Rose flipped open e box to reveal two slices of cake. She gave Aaron a small, sympathetic smile as she handed him a fork and a plate with one slice.  
"Who needs a girlfriend when I got someone like you?" laughed her best friend as he took it from her hand. Then he noticed something once he took a bite. "I know this is also because you're about to do something and you don't want me to tell," he said through a mouthful of cake. "And as well as a form of pity, this is also a form of bribery."  
"Ding ding ding! " grinned Rose, taking out her own slice. She took a bite, and said, "I got an idea. A crazy, dangerous idea that just might work." She took advantage of the fact his mouth was full to continue. "Ever since that Maximoff girl went into my mind, since we have same powers it's like she linked our minds together in a way. Like while you were sleeping I closed my eyes for a minute and saw through her eyes because at that moment I was wondering what they were doing right now, and I saw something. They might end up being related to this whole Ultron business. Now, I'm going to try it again and see if I can see something interesting. And you're not going to tell the others, right?"  
Aaron waited a moment before responding, "Well it might not be safe. And if it's dangerous, I'll have to tell them just in case."  
Rose took another bite, tapping her nails on the table. "Let me rephrase this. You're not going to tell the others..." The way she said it made it clear that she wasn't asking. And that he didn't want to know what's happen if he disobeyed her. "Right?" At the end, Rose put on a small innocent smile that Aaron saw through immediately.  
When he continued to say nothing, Rose took another bite and smirked. "So we do have an understanding."  
"You better know what you're doing," mumbled Aaron through another mouthful of cake.  
"Don't I always?" smirked Rose. "See, this is what I mean about how our friendship works out. One of us does something stupid while the other worries about collateral damage. Looks like it's your turn to worry."


	6. Chapter 5: Wakanda

It was weird; walking around, feeling like there was a giant sword hanging over your head, about to fall at any second. For once, Rose was actually feeling a little on edge, possibly more from her little discovery than her meeting with Ultron. If she could get inside the Maximoff girl's head, who was to say, she couldn't get into Rose's. Of course, she'd need to stop that from happening. She'd felt the girl in her head once, and once was far too many times for her.

The team had spent a good portion of the night before, and still throughout the morning right at this moment, reaching out to any contacts they had and warning them about their current situation, hoping that they weren't already compromised. Once morning came, though she wasn't tired, Steve and Bucky insisted she go to get some rest. When Rose snapped back that there was no way she could possibly think of sleep in a time like this, Bucky threatened to find some way to knock her out, and carry her up to her bedroom himself. After that, Rose reluctantly backed down, which had everyone else in the room literally look up from their work to gape in disbelief as Rose obeyed and went up to her room without any argument or sending any sass in Bucky's direction. Somehow she had a feeling she was never going to live that one down. Even Steve couldn't get her to do something that easily.

Well, it wasn't exactly her fault. When you grew up with the Winter Soldier as your supervisor and guardian (along with the closest thing to a father substitute she could get), it was kinda drilled into her head to obey him. Besides, since he taught her everything she knew, he was the only person she respected with just a touch of fear mixed in at the same time, even if he was Bucky Barnes now. While she tried to think of herself as better than her mentor, she knew that no matter how many times H.Y.D.R.A wiped his memory, some small part remembered her and tried to hold back to the best of his abilities.

No way did she ever want to see what his bad side looked like, not after she found out what his son's looked like when he lost it, and she barely survived that time. He had nearly murdered her because she refused to hurt him. It was the day she learned how her emotions could get in the way of things. Letting them take control could be fatal.

Currently, all of them were still down in the lab, coffee cups and doughnut boxes littering the counters as they tried to piece together what little information they had in the vain hope of finding something even slightly useful. To be fair, Rose gave up after the first half hour passed last night when they found nothing, but she kept looking so she wouldn't leave everyone alone by themselves. On her way back down to check on their progress was when she noticed Aaron having his little nightmare.

She knew how much Aaron's past haunted him. It was always either the horrible memories or bad nightmares centering around the memories.

But what were they supposed to do about it? It was too late to fix whatever damage H.Y.D.R.A had inflicted upon them, both psychologically and physically. Not with the scars they left them as horrible reminders. While Rose might be able to forget for even a short while, the instant she caught sight of the symbol on the underside of her arm, everything came back. Then again, she supposed it was a reminder of who she was and who she'd always be, and there was some part of her that didn't mind that. In fact, that part even relished that fact. She was no hero, and never would be, and she was okay with that. A little wake up call to reality was just what she needed.

She wasn't a sweet, caring superhero who would save the day just for the good of people. No, she was a cold-hearted assassin who got the job done by any means necessary. An assassin with plenty of blood on her hands. Just because she tried to make up for it by doing her job, that doesn't mean she was innocent or anything. It was simply about finally doing something good after years of being forced to do H.Y.D.R.A's bidding.

Rose instead went up to her room. Obviously if she came down there, everyone would try to baby her again. She hated that. She hated being treated like she was incapable of anything, even if they meant well. And she certainly hated being pitied above all.

Once she was inside, she went to her bed, and just sat there for a moment. After a moment, she bit her lip, and walked over to the shelf on the far corner of the room. Sitting atop the shelf was a small china doll with black curls in pigtails. It wore a white and blue dress, and while there was the tiny crack on her right cheek, almost looking like a scar, it looked like something a little girl would play with. A little girl that no longer existed.

Rose picked it up from its spot, and traced the crack. She remembered playing with this doll right after her mother gave it to her as a birthday present. As a little girl, Rose was surprisingly careful with it, making sure that when she was playing outside, not a smudge of dirt stained the doll's dress. She remembered playing with it as if it were a real friend, not just a toy.

"Because you were my first friend," Rose thought aloud to herself. Sometimes, whenever she thought she couldn't remember a time she wasn't the person she knew herself to be now, this doll reminded her. Howard had managed to keep it safe for her all these years, and after he passed away, Tony had somehow done the same. It was by sheer luck that this small little piece of her past had followed her through all this years, and it was comforting to be able to have that.

Unable to help herself, Rose held the doll tight to her chest like she once did at three years old, and sat down on the edge of her bed. She laid down, and closed her eyes as she kept the doll close to her. Just slightly enough to see into another's mind from the long distance, Rose brought down her mental defenses for the first time in years, but ready to bring it back up in case the girl decided to use her trick against her. She let go, and for a moment, relaxed and forgot everything.

Suddenly, she saw what must've been through the girl's eyes since the first thing Rose's eyes landed on when they took in everything around hero was the unmistakable silver hair of the speedster she met just a few days ago. An eternity ago. And those piercing electric blue eyes of his, ones she hadn't been able to get off her mind. Ahead was Ultron, and to Rose's annoyance, he was no longer a simple piece of scrap metal. The sight was enough to shake Rose's thoughts off of the speedster, but she couldn't ignore how she noticed those things about him. Just small details to pick him out in a crowd, she told herself.

"We move out right away," Ultron instructed as he finished telling the twins the plan. "This is the start, but there is something we need to do to begin the real work."

Big, vast machines created robots to Rose's growing horror. Some robots flew around, helping, building and creating. All creating more copies of what Ultron is. There were dozens. An army in the making. So this was why he was playing all these waiting games instead of fighting them head-on.

Meanwhile, the girl's eyes scanned the huge laboratory. "All of these are-"

"Me," Ultron finished. "I have what the Avengers will never have. Harmony. Stark's already got them turning on each other, and once you get inside their heads-"

"Everyone's plan is to not kill them," the silver-haired twin cut in.

"And make them marauders?" Ultron retorted. "You need patience. You need to see the big picture."

"I don't see the big picture," the speedster replied. "I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it. Every day."

"You lost your parents in the bombings, just like the Rogers girl lost her mother. I've seen the records-"

"The records aren't the picture."

"Pietro..." His sister flinched at the mere mention of Rose, and she tried to stop her brother from saying anything else.

"No, please," Ultron insisted.

Pietro looked at his sister, eyes intent. "We are ten years old, having dinner, the four of us, and the first shells hit two floors below us, makes a hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in, and the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed and the second shell hits, but it doesn't go off. It just sits there in the rubble, three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell is painted one word-"

"Stark," the girl finished.

Pietro breathed in deeply before he could continue. "We were trapped for two days."

"Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think 'This will set it off.' We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us," the girl added furiously.

"I know what they are," Pietro finished, strangely calm.

Rose watched on with no pity for the twins. Part of her wish she could, but there was no sympathy in her heart to give. Not after everything she'd been through. After all she'd been through, it was hard to cry over those two joining a madman simply for revenge.

"I wondered why you two survived the experiments. Now, I don't. We will make right." Ultron looked to Pietro. "You and I can hurt them. " Then he moves toward the girl, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. His cold, metal fingers skimmed her cheek. "But you will tear them apart from the inside."

* * *

"What do you guys got?" Rose asked as she went back down to the lab. She didn't wait for an answer before sitting atop a counter, her legs dangling over the edge.

Maria sighed, running a hand through her already slightly mussed hair. "He's all over the globe. Robotics labs, weapon facilities, jet propulsion labs. Reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place."

"Oh, joy," Rose snorted sarcastically. "I already knew about that. He's building a little army of tin men. Just what we need."

Before anyone could ask how she learned that when nobody told her, Steve stepped in. He leaned against the counter where his daughter perched. "Fatalities?" He watched her with a worried undertone in his eyes, and she could hear these thoughts had been plaguing him for a while now. Though he was wondering the same thing as to how she knew what they had yet to tell her, Rose simply smirked, and shrugged as if it say, 'It's a secret.'

Maria nodded slightly. "Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worse fears, and something too fast to see."

"Obviously either H.Y.D.R.A.'s getting sloppy or they just recruited weak volunteers," scoffed Rose. "Because with them, they teach you to shoot even when they're not shooting back. If they get in the way-" she pretended her fingers were a gun, and shot it at the nearest person, her face an emotionless mask- "they're removed from the situation. And not in a nice way."

It seemed like everyone in the room swallowed thickly at her words. "What? Shouldn't that be a good thing?" Rose shrugged. "They don't have the guts to actually go through with killing someone. But Ultron does."

Steve glanced at her, sensing her slight disinterest in the subject. Normally, from anyone else, that'd be a good thing. But from her it meant she was hiding something. Something she wasn't exactly inclined to say in front of everyone. How she could seem so indifferent to everything was shocking, but then again, she'd dealt worse and been through worse. Hiding her emotions was a breeze at this point.

"Maximoffs," he said. "Well, it makes sense that he'd go to them. They have something in common."

"I wouldn't say that," Rose corrected. She glanced over to Maria. "Got something to say?"

The brunette mentioned looked uncomfortable as she nodded. "Rose is right. If they had anything in common, not anymore." Maria handed Steve a tablet, and Rose leaned over his shoulder to get a better view of the screen. The sight was enough to make her blink in surprise.

"What did I tell you?" she said quietly, fighting back a smirk out of respect of the dead. The image on the screen was horrifying; it showed Strucker's dead body splayed out on the floor. The word PEACE was written on the wall in blood. It was a miracle Rose was able to tear her eyes away from all the blood.

Steve glanced back at her, concern written all over his handsome face. "Rose, what are you thinking?" he questioned. This time, Rose couldn't hold back the smirk that spread on her face. It was no mystery why she was acting this way. Strucker was a man who turned people into his own personal guinea pig, like those H.Y.D.R.A agents had done to her and Aaron all those years ago. He was a man who abused his precious lab rats physically and psychologically, just as she had been her whole life. A man who deserved every single bit of what came to him.

With a deep breath, she let it go. The good and the bad. "Never been better," she smirked. "Good thing Mom taught me to respect the dead or I'd actually be jumping for joy that someone finally killed that son of a bitch."

A moment of silence passed before Steve cleared his throat, and interrupted Clint, who was talking over the phone. "Barton, we might have something," he said. Rose gave her father a questioning look, raising a pierced eyebrow, but he simply shrugged in response, not knowing who Clint was talking to either.

The archer nodded before bidding goodbye to whoever was on the phone and made his way over to them. When Rose tried to peek into his mind to see who her friend was talking to, he put up a little mental wall to block her. "Well played, Hawkeye, well played," she said, narrowing her eyes. Clint merely shrugged in response.

"After two years with you, you learn," he replied with a chuckle. Rose forced a wry laugh, then smacked him on the shoulder as he passed. He grimaced, and bit his lip. "And you'd think I'd learned to deal with that, too," he winced.

"So who was that?" the Rogers both said simultaneously. Clint looked back and forth between the two, clearly amused they'd spoken at the same time, but shut it when Rose raised her hand as a threat to smack him again. Instead of making a crack like he usually would, he simply waved it off, and said he was talking to his girlfriend. Rose didn't buy it one bit.

"I thought you didn't have a girlfriend," she retorted skeptically, raising a pierced brow. Clint suddenly appeared uneasy, and breathed a sigh of relief when the rest of the team made their way into the lab. Everyone watched with pensive expressions as Steve showed them the photo of the dead body of Baron Von Strucker. They were all oddly silent as they took in the gruesome sight, that is until Tony decided to speak up. "What's this?" he demanded.

"A message," Steve answered evenly, taking in everyone's reactions. Rose leaned forward from her spot atop the counter, not moving an inch otherwise. "Ultron killed Strucker." His daughter's expression remained impassive, but he could see her jaw clench slightly. That was how you could tell what she was feeling nowadays, the subtle hints, so subtle you might miss it if you didn't look hard enough.

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us. Yay," Tony mumbled. Rose rolled her eyes, and barely suppressed a groan. Honestly, once you thought about it you could see where Ultron had gotten his personality. Like father, like son as they say.

Natasha shook her head, wrapped in thought. "This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" she asked as she viewed the screen.

She was right, and Rose tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth as she considered Natasha's words. "Isn't it obvious?" she suggested. "Strucker knew something Ultron wanted us to miss. This was more something to shut him up. Just like Joseph Stalin said. 'No man, no problem.'" The team all looked at her in shock, but Steve had a look of pure pride on his face. "What?" she shrugged. "Check yourself if you don't believe me."

Nat smiled slightly before an annoyed expression crossed her face. "Yeah, I bet he..." She glanced at the computer monitor and swore in Russian. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased," she notified, pulling up empty files on the computer for all to see.

"Not everything," Tony recalled, a slightly maniacal grin on his face. He began lugging boxes of files out onto the table and dividing them up between them all to look through.

"Divide and conquer," Rose grumbled, rolling her eyes as she took her share of files.

It was probably a comical sight; the entire Avengers team sprawled out on the floor of Tony Stark's lab reading through all physical files on Baron Von Strucker they could get their hands on. After an hour or so, Steve groaned, flopping down next to Rose, looking like he wanted to bang his head on a wall. "Known associated. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends," he pointed out, flicking through a random persons file from a particularly full looking box. Rose snorted, his file looking extremely boring. The one she was reading told of his early involvement with H.Y.D.R.A. Judging by the information, it was pretty dark.

Bruce walked over to them, and plucked the file out of Steve's hands. "Well, these people are all horrible," he muttered quietly as he glanced at images of various different criminals. Rose looked up at the scientist, and raised an eyebrow.

"That has got to be the understatement of the century," she retorted in an irritated tone.

Tony wandered over, and joined the little group. "Wait a sec...I know that guy." Bruce passed him the picture they'd been looking at. "From back in the day. He operated off the African coast, black market arms." Steve shot Tony an accusatory look, and Rose smirked at the childish behavior, enjoying the show. "There are conventions," Tony added in an annoyed tone. "You meet people. I didn't sell him anything. His name is Ulysses Klaue. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer. It was all very 'Ahab.'"

The rest of the team now paid attention to the conversation now, intrigued by Tony's black market arms dealer. Thor studied the photo intently before he pointed out something. A scar on the back of Klaue's neck. "What is this?" he questioned.

Tony commented, "Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..." He continued to look through different images.

Thor shook his head. "No, those aren't tattoos. This is a brand," he replied. The god sounded so assure in his statement that not even Tony challenged him.

"He's right. Take it from someone who knows," Rose agreed, lifting up her arm for all to see the H.Y.D.R.A brand on her skin. For a moment, everyone was silent. She had kept it hidden for so long, she wasn't surprised at everyone's shock to even see it there. After a moment, Rose lowered her arm, and pointed to the picture, right at the mark on Klaue's neck as she walked up to the screen. "Now that? That's a brand alright. It's a word in African dialect meaning thief...In a much less friendly way." Once again everyone stared at her in disbelief. This time, she rolled her eyes and snapped, "What?! I'm allowed to know things!"

"What dialect?" Steve questioned.

"Wakandan. Klaue got the mark attempting to smuggle some precious metal out of Wakanda," Rose smirked smugly at knowing something no one else knew. At their confused expressions, she decided to elaborate. "I look up the people Aaron talks about. There's always the possibility that he plans on doing business with them so I research their backgrounds...In ways probably not legal."

"OK then, I'm glad to know that you actually can be useful, Rose." Tony shook his head before continuing, "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." he started.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it," Steve said in confusion.

"I don't follow, what comes out of Wakanda?" asked Bruce, standing up from his chair.

"The strongest metal on earth," responded Rose flatly, glancing at Steve's shield. "If that's Ultron's game plan, we're all screwed." She typed quickly into the nearest computer. "The deals he makes are mostly near the coast, so if I just...Bingo. There's a salvage mile along the African coast. Possible location as it's remote and quiet," she explained as she pulled up a map, and turned back to face the others. Tony and Bruce raised an eyebrow at her. "What? I do have a private life, you know," she snapped.

"Suit up," Steve ordered, and everyone started moving.

Rose nodded, and went upstairs. Aaron was waiting right outside for her, a knowing smirk on his face.

"When do we start?" he asked. Rose snorted, shoving him slightly.

"There is no ' _we_ ' on this trip. Just me and the team," she said.

"So what? We're not a team anymore?" Aaron inquired with a raised brow. She could've sworn he saw hurt flash through his eyes.

"We are, but this is dangerous, and I don't want to see you get hurt," Rose shot back, not looking back at him as she made her way up to her room. Not giving up, Aaron tagged along right after her.

"Yeah, and I don't want to know you got hurt somehow when I could've been there to protect you," he said defiantly. When Rose got to her room, she tried to close the door to end the conversation, but Aaron easily put one hand to stop her. "You're gonna have to do better than that."

"You're not coming. Case closed," Rose snapped. Aaron simply rolled his eyes.

"Like that's going to stop me," he snorted. He jabbed his finger at her chest. "I'll follow the plane if I have to, so I'm coming whether you like it or not."

"Not," snapped Rose, glaring. Aaron matched her gaze. Eventually, Rose sighed loudly through her nose, and rolled her eyes. "Fine." Then she shoved his hand out of the way, and slammed the door in his face.

After an awkward moment of silence, Aaron smiled. "I'll take what I can get."


	7. Chapter 6: Hi Again

A few hours later the Quinjet landed near the abandoned salvage yard, and the team stepped out onto African soil. Aaron was nowhere to be found. Rose hoped he hadn't actually been stupid enough to come. But part of her knew her hopes were in vain. He never left her alone when he thought she could be in danger. Even on her missions, he had always stayed nearby as a sniper in case someone tried to attack her from behind. During the ride, Steve had tried to speak with Rose more than a few times, but she continuously brushed him off, needing to remain focus.

Rose stood up from her spot on the Quinjet, checking that her guns were fully loaded, and her daggers were all razor sharp. And they should as she spent half the ride sharpening them. Taking out a piece of banana-flavored bubble gum stick from the pack in her pocket, she shoved it in her mouth, and started chewing. From the moment, she took the pack out, the scent of bananas enveloped her. Somehow, it was her favorite. In a way, it reminded her of how her mother's kitchen used to smell like.

Those were the small things she remembered. After all, Rose was only a toddler back then, so any memories of her mother were faint. Anything that she could use to bring back even a flicker of Lydia Hathaway-Rogers was a part of her everyday life in some way.

"You know, I've never been to Wakanda," she mentioned aloud.

"It's big in industrialism. Mainly for the metal that Steve's shield is made up of," Clint told her from the cockpit.

"Ah, yes, the Vibranium. Everyone wants to use that these days, don't they?" snorted Rose, rolling her eyes as she braided her hair into a tight french braid. "Bet you they're all making quite a pretty penny off of mining it. And like I said before, if Ultron's after the strongest metal on earth, with all the things he might plan to do with it, we're all screwed."

"Agreed," a familiar face said from behind her. Rose turned around to see Aaron standing there, a smug smirk on his face. His black wings retracted into his spine as he leaned against the wall. As usual, he was dressed in his black uniform, his mask in his hands. "Don't mind if I join the party, do you?"

"How the hell did you even get on?" Tony demanded.

"A magician never reveals his secrets," Aaron grinned. He looked at Steve, a knowing glint entering his eyes. Steve groaned, knowing what he was about to bring up. "Oh, and also, you should know better than to curse in front of Cap here. You know he doesn't like that kind of language."

"Who wants me to push him out the window the next time we take off?" Rose asked, raising her arm in the air. Tony and Steve raised their hands high. Aaron's eyes widened, and he put his hands to his chest in mock hurt.

"Ouch, and just when I thought we were all getting along," he said.

Rose shrugged, a small smirk on her face. "Warning, get in my way, you'll regret it," she threatened, jabbing a finger at his chest. "So you're gonna have to take care of yourself." Once she finished braiding her hair, she walked over to the door. Any and all emotions went into lockdown as she stepped out into the hot sun.

"I'm not some little kid, I can hold my own!" Aaron called after her, staying on her heels. As he followed her, he put on his mask.

"Fly ahead. Keep out of sight, and only come in when I give you the signal," Rose ordered without looking back. Aaron rolled his eyes, and gave her a mock salute before sprouting his wings and taking off. Rose exhaled loudly through her nose, and smoothed down her black curls. "Let's do this," she mumbled.

She could sense the Maximoff twins the moment she set foot off the Quinjet, and from the instant she entered the dilapidated ship that housed Klaue's smuggling operation she could tell this was where they'd been hiding. Their energy was so strong, she could pick them out from a crowd miles away.

Steve and Thor made their way up one of the staircases while Tony was hovering outside, waiting for the signal to come in, and Bruce stayed safely on the Quinjet. Rose stayed in the shadows as she slowly approached, reaching Ultron and the twins first before the others. Well, not exactly since Aaron was able to keep up, using his clothing and wings to hide in the dark corners. It took even Rose more than a minute to discover Aaron flying soundlessly just below the ceiling over her, having a view on everything, and that was only because she had known him long enough to pick him out. The man actually _winked_ at her for crying out loud.

Rose stayed hidden as she watched Ultron staring down at the man known as Ulysses Klaue. Ultron stood before a hidden compartment of vibranium. "Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich, and find out which is which," he said simply.

"Stark used to say that," Klaue said. "You're one of his." Ultron's eyes widened.

Rose watched as he suddenly grabbed Klaue's arm, shouting angrily, "You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men? I mean, look at me. Do I look like Iron Man? Stark is..."

In his fury, Ultron twisted Klaue's arm, and Rose watched intently, drawing closer, as Klaue screamed in pain, his arm cut cleanly off. Klaue reeled back, clutching at the stub where his upper arm now ended while Ultron released the remainder of Klaue's arm.

"I'm sorry," Ultron apologized, almost cooing softly when he examined Klaue's injury. "I am sor...Ooh, I'm sure that's going to be okay. I'm sorry, it's just I don't understand."

Teleporting to another spot, close by the scene, Rose raised an eyebrow. If the fact that the AI wanting to kill the Avengers wasn't bad enough, he was clearly crazy, and seemed to even have inherited some of Tony's self-destructive tendencies, and then amplified it. Along with a temper. "Tony, if we didn't need you, I'd murder you long before this thing did," Rose whispered to herself through gritted teeth.

No one noticed her as she stuck to the shadows. "Don't compare me to Stark!" Ultron bellowed. He kicked Klaue down a staircase savagely. Rose gripped her gun tightly, and pressed her comms to let Tony hear. Ultron snarled, "It's a thing with me. Stark is...he's a sickness!"

"Get a heart, tin man. No need to be so rude," sneered Rose, stepping out of the shadows. The twins jumped, startled. "That's my job." At the same time, Tony decided to make his entrance.

"Ah, Junior," he called as he landed his Iron Man suit on the catwalk that suspended about six feet or so from the ground. Thor and Steve walked out to flank him. Even with his mask down, it was easy to guess Tony was smirking. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

Ultron merely tilted his head as he regarded Tony. "If I have to," he replied scornfully. Rose folded her arms across her chest, glancing at the Maximoff twins. Their expressions became angry at the mere sight of the Avengers, although when the girl set her eyes on Rose, a slight curious glint entered her eye.

"Nobody has to break anything," Thor tried, his grip tightening on Mjolnir. Each side walked a little further out onto the catwalk.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet," Ultron retorted sarcastically. Rose scoffed, and rolled her eyes. Yep, Ultron was definitely Tony's.

"He beat me by one second," Tony said, glancing back at Thor, Steve, and Rose.

"Just great, there's two of them now," the teenage Avenger quipped sarcastically.

Thor gave them both a confused look, but then his eyes flicked back to the twins as Pietro spoke up. "Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark." As Rose followed his gaze when it lowered to the missiles stored on the floor below them, she couldn't help but remember his words from before. "Like old times?" he remarked scathingly.

"This was never my life," Tony argued quietly. He sounded sad, ashamed even.

"You two can still walk away from this before it's too late," Rose added, trying in a small attempt to reach out to the twins. But she knew it wouldn't work. If they were anything like her, they'd been too greatly damaged.

"Oh, we will," the female twin pouted mockingly before smiling in anticipation. Her implication was clear; they'd be walking away, but the Avengers wouldn't.

With a sigh, Rose shrugged indifferently, "Okay, I tried to be nice. I actually didn't want to fight you, but I get my mission done by any means necessary. And if that requires getting rid of you two, so be it." A small, sinister smile graced her lips, enough to send a chill down one's spine. "I won't be nice about it, though. I'm not exactly a fan of your little mind warping trick."

"I know you've suffered," Steve attempted, walking toward the two slowly as if to let them know he meant no harm. At his words, Ultron scoffed.

"Captain America," he chuckled. "God's righteous man. Pretending that he could live without a war." Immediately, Steve stepped back as if slapped. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-"

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," Thor pleaded.

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet," Ultron countered arrogantly.

"What you people call peace, even I call genocide," butted in Rose sharply, narrowing her eyes. "And guess what? That won't exactly end well for either side."

"What's the Vibranium for?" Tony chimed in impatiently.

"I'm glad you asked that, because I want to take this time to explain my evil plan!" Ultron said sarcastically.

Before Tony could make some brilliant quip, Ultron's hand turned into a magnetized field, dragging Tony forward by his metal suit, then blasted him into the wall. At the same time, the Iron Legion appeared out of nowhere, and went after Steve, Thor, and Rose.

Quickly, Tony was right back up and flew right toward Ultron, the two flying through the rafters in a deadly dance. Steve and Thor had their hands full as they battled the Iron Legion while easily tore apart every Legionnaire that tried to attack her. From across the room, she could hear Klaue shouting at his men to start shooting at them all, though she wasn't positive whether he meant her team or the twins. Either way, this wasn't going to be pretty. The twins had joined the fight as well; Pietro had charged at Steve the instant he saw an opening, and his sister had gone after Thor, throwing him like a rag doll with her red energy.

Rose exhaled loudly, then spit out her gum into a piece of paper and tucked it into her pocket. "Well, looks we finally get to have a little fun," she smirked. before beginning to take out as many of Klaue's alerted men as possible the instant the hostiles ran in from outside. She whistled loudly, calling Aaron into the battle. Almost instantly, he was helping Thor and Steve fight off robots while Rose took care of the live hostiles. She only prayed he didn't catch sight of Wanda anytime soon because she didn't doubt for even a second he'd start trying to flirt the instant he saw her. It never mattered whether the girl was on the opposite side or not, as long as she's cute, he'll go for it.

Grabbing two daggers, Rose slipped into a corridor, stabbing two men once they appeared around the corner. They went down instantly. The others, alerted to her present, started to fire their guns at her but only managed to get in a few shots before they fell with grunts and cries of pain as she slid across the floor, swiping at their legs.

Rose took their guns from them, and finished them off, ensuring they wouldn't get back up, then slipped down another corridor, following the sounds of running footsteps. She intercepted another group of Klaue's men, and took them out in a similar way, twisting and kicking out when she needed to.

Once she was finished, she noticed a flash of silver zipping around the boat, causing small bits of chaos. Pietro. He punched Steve in the jaw, and knocked him over. He zipped past Thor, and suddenly he was flying, gripping Mjolnir with panic written on his face. She watched with amusement as he fell to the ground.

Rose rushed over the bridge, and jumped off it. She landed on her feet like a cat, and stared Pietro down, his eyes glancing over to her. When he tried to stand up, she gathered violet energy in her hands, and blasted him back onto the boxes.

"That's for my dad," she said, her face wiped of expression. "For your own damn good, stay down."

With that, she walked away. She put a hand to the earpiece in her ear. "So, how we looking?" she couldn't resist asking Aaron through the comms.

"Sexy, but not like we're trying too hard," he responded cockily. Just by the sound of his voice, she could tell he was smirking as she rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, sometimes, I don't even know why I talk to-" Her sentence was cut off as she suddenly felt herself get picked up, an arm under her legs and another supporting her back, before being whisked away so quickly it almost seemed impossible. She cried out in surprise, and clung tight to whatever was holding her. She panicked, and clenched her eyes shut so she wouldn't see everything blur past. When everything stopped moving, she opened her eyes to see Pietro smirking down at her in his arms.

"If I knew this was all it took, I would've done this a long time ago," he smirked.

Self-consciously, she noticed she was still clutching to Pietro like her life depended on it, and her cheeks heated up as she let go and attempted to push him away from her. Rose glared, and snarled, "If you don't put me down right now, I will personally break every single damn bone in your body!"

"Alright, alright, didn't think I was that horrible," Pietro chuckled, setting her down on the floor. Almost a second later, Rose whirled around and punched him in the jaw so fast he didn't see it coming. "Ow!" he snapped, recovering quickly. When he looked back up at her, a fire burned in her blue-green eyes.

"What the hell?!" they both shouted at each other simultaneously, glaring. But she couldn't help feel a slight ping of victory at finally wiping that annoying smirk off his face.

"You punched me!" he snapped indignantly.

"Yeah, that's for getting my friend shot!" she shot right back, just as livid. Before the Sokovian could open his mouth again, she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. He grimaced in pain. "And this is for your little stunt just now!" she growled.

From in the distance, even as he took out robots, Aaron listened to every bit of the conversation between the two, and grinned. He couldn't help it. It was too good to resist since Rose forgot to turn off her comm, plus he enjoyed hearing her beat up Pietro out of sheer spite. "All I need now is a bucket of popcorn, and this would be perfect," he grinned quietly to himself behind his mask.

Back to Rose and Pietro, he struggled against her strong grip, and it only made her smirk at how helpless he seemed. "Keep trying, maybe you might actually succeed," she commented. Pietro turned his head to glare at her, and she only smirked. "Doesn't feel so good when you're on the other end, now does it?" she teased with a smirk, her mocking southern belle accent coming back to spite him.

"I don't talk like that!" Pietro snapped.

"Really? Have you heard yourself?" Rose retorted, tightening her hold on him. With that, she let go, and threw him against the wall. "For such a pretty face, you don't seem very bright. Don't you get that Ultron's the enemy?"

Pietro picked himself up, stumbling a bit before leaning against the wall. While he had stopped with the smirking, there was a tone of cockiness in his words. "To you, maybe."

Rose gritted her teeth, praying the lord for patience. Or at least an untraceable handgun.

"Are you that dense?" she snapped. "To all of us, I mean, moron. To humanity. Don't you see? He's using you. Just like H.Y.D.R.A. did."

His eyes narrowed as he walked towards her slowly. "Like you're such a saint," he hissed, leaning close to her face. Rose didn't budge an inch, glaring right back. All she could see was raw, burning hatred in his eyes. If anger was the way he wanted to go, two could play at that game.

"Look who's talking," sneered Rose. "At least I've never tried to wipe out humanity, Maximoff. You...You're helping. So don't you dare get all high and mighty on me, you bastard." Her blood boiled against her skin as she jabbed her finger at the silver-haired man's chest. "And you know what? I'll be the first to say Stark is the most insufferable man I've ever met-you being a close second-but the difference between the two of you is that at least he's trying to fix his mistake."

Shock flashed across his face before it was replaced by anger, and she knew she hit a nerve. His eyes grew cold and hard. "Do not compare me with that monster. Do. Not," he hissed.

She tilted her head to the side, a small smirk gracing her lips. Pietro let his emotions show. Maybe she could use that to her advantage. Once someone showed their sensitive side to their enemy, there's no turning back. They'd always remember it.

A small malicious laugh left her throat as she leaned forward. "Oh, I almost forgot. This is about your dead mommy and daddy, right? I know all about that."

Pietro froze. Rose only smirked at her victory. If she kept him here, maybe he wouldn't bother the rest of her teammates. "I wonder what it was like to see them die," she continued in a mocking tone. "I saw how emotional you got talking about them. They must be so proud of you, willing to wipe out humanity for _revenge_." Venom entered her voice at that last word. Flames burned in his eyes, and he looked like he honestly wanted to slap her.

"You shut up!"

"Make me. Or are you just all talk?"

Suddenly, he ran into her, and she landed on the floor, her body aching from the harsh contact. As angry as he was, she needed to push him a little further. "Let me tell you a little something," spat Rose venomously, pushing herself up. She got up, folding her arms across her chest. "Maybe, just maybe, and this is a thought, if you'd stop trying to kill what's left of my family, I might start caring about yours. But I don't, because they're dead, and nothing will change that."

He attempted to punch her across the face, but she ducked low, and swiped his feet out from under him, throwing him onto his back. She put her boot on his chest to keep him from getting up as she swept a rebellious strand of hair from her blue-green eyes.

"Was that supposed to work?" she asked innocently. Pietro waited a minute before grabbing her leg, and pulling her down beside him, switching their positions as he pinned her to the floor. She glared at him, and gathered saliva in her mouth and spat it in his face. Her aim was perfect, hitting him directly in the eye.

He reeled back, wiping the saliva out of his eyes. While he was distracted, she reached to grab one of her daggers, and swung when he turned her attention back to her. It got him just below the ribcage, him moving out of the way quick enough to avoid the worst of it.

She flipped back up into her feet, and kicked him in the jaw with her boot. He ran at her again, but not before she threw violet energy at him, slamming him backwards into the metal walls of the ship. Rose got into a fighting stance, preparing to take down the man if he got back up. He did. Bruised and cut along his ribcage, and a long, bleeding scratch on his waist from colliding with the wall, but still standing.

"You don't know when to give up, do you?" smirked Rose, her eyes glinting knowingly. "I like that."

"Yeah, well, I could do this all day," Pietro said, getting into his own fighting stance.

"Thorn!" Aaron called into her earpiece. "The girl's trying to mess with our minds. She's already gotten Red and Thor." A moment's pause. "And now Steve apparently. Tried to wake them up, but they can't seem to hear me. Red actually almost attacked me when I tried."

"What about Clint?" Rose asked quietly, keeping her gaze on Pietro, keeping him in the dark of what was going on with her team.

"So far, he seems fine. Seemed pretty freaked out for a minute there when I told him about the mind games," replied Aaron.

"I don't doubt that for a second," Rose whispered. Ever since Loki tampered with no mind less than a year ago, he's hated mind games. "Aaron Barnes, you get back onto the Quinjet now, and find Bruce. Keep him calm."

"Well, the last thing we need here is a visit from the jolly green giant," Aaron snorted sarcastically, irritated beyond belief at the current situation. "What about you?"

"I can more than handle this," snapped Rose. Before he could protest, she continued talking. "Someone's got to watch out for everyone here, and someone's got to teach the two punks here a lesson. I'll be fine, but you're not expendable."

"Neither are you!"

"You really think I'll go down easy? And if I do, trust me, I'll take one of these bastards down with me. Go to the Quinjet, and I'll meet you there."

Only silence met her, but she could feel the anger seeping out of him. "So," Rose smirked, turning her attention back to Pietro. "Round two?"

* * *

Aaron flew up through the hole in the roof, and he set down onto the forest floor before breaking into a run. After a while of running, he came to a clearing where the Quinjet sat. Relieved, he ran around to the front of it. What he saw, however, made his blood run cold.

"Oh God," he whispered in horror.

Bruce stumbled out the jet, clutching his head. That in itself wouldn't be so bad. If that was the only thing wrong, all Aaron had to do was playing some classical music. But it was who's standing behind him that made his heart stop for a moment. Wanda Maximoff was creeping up behind him.

"Look out!" The shout barely left Aaron's lips before Wanda cast her spell on Bruce, and his eyes clouded with the red mist coming out of her fingertips. A panicked look enters Bruce's eyes as his skin started to show a green tint. The last thought Aaron had before he might possibly die was: _Crap_.

Then Bruce exploded in a mass of green muscles, ripped clothing, and bared teeth with a deafening roar. He flung Wanda away like a rag doll with one swing of his massive arms. But the next thing he did was zeroed in on Aaron. The teenager's life flashed before his eyes.

"Hey, big guy," he said quietly. "You can take control. You can beat this, okay? Think about Natasha." A flicker of recognition passed through Bruce's eyes, but it was gone as fast as it came. He barreled toward Aaron who just barely ran out of the way in time before the Hulk crashed into a tree and knocked it over.

Aaron let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, and made the sign of the cross on his forehead. Since he didn't want to hurt Bruce, (he knew what it was like to not be in control) a pattern was created between the two. The Hulk would charge at him, and Aaron would barely dodge it, then tried to reason with him to no avail. It went on like this for a while until Aaron thought he heard someone call his name, and he became distracted long enough for the Hulk to ram into him.

Aaron flew through the air, and landed with a loud thud. "Ow," he mumbled as he picked himself up. "Karma's a bitch." He barely had time to get back up and run out of the way before the Hulk came barreling through. He kept running, and once he was a good distance away, he activated his earpiece.

"Code green! We got a code green here!" he shouted.

"The Hulk giving you trouble?" Clint asked in concern.

"Gee, I don't know, what do you think?!" Aaron snapped, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Alright, stay calm. Come help me with the others so we can get out of here." Despite the situation, Clint's voice had a authoritative, yet calming quality to it. Aaron took a deep breath.

"On it. Be there in-" The rest was cut off as red mist swirled in his vision, and his eyes glazed over. He whirled around to see Wanda standing there. Maybe it was the spell messing with his mind or maybe it was just him being his normally idiotic self, but he simply smirked. "Nu, privet, lyubimyy. Imya Aaron Barnes," he said in Russian. A look of surprise flashed across the girl's face, and the corner of her mouth twitched up. The ground began to swirl under his feet as the spell began to take effect. He shook his head once, twice, to try to clear it until his mind was too muddled to make out anything around him anymore.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he crumpled to the ground. The last thing he heard was the Hulk roaring. Everything went black, his mind overcome by the horrible curse Wanda cast on him.

* * *

"Ready to give up yet?" Rose asked smartly, noticing how bad in shape Pietro looked at this point. She didn't even appear out of breath. After the third time she threw him into the wall, he couldn't even stand without a tremendous amount of effort. His sweater was now torn along the arms and stomach, and a purple bruise marked his left cheekbone.

"Nope," came his ragged reply, stumbling up.

"You can't even stand," she scoffed, though not breaking out of her fighting stance. "Stand down."

"I'm not a quitter like you."

His response took the assassin by surprise, and she stared at him before narrowing her eyes. "Whoever said I was a quitter?"

Pietro stumbled a bit as the room spun with every step he took, but he moved forward. "My sister saw everything. How you let them do whatever they wanted to you. How you did whatever they wanted. How you let them break you," he breathed. "You quit back then. Or is there another reason why you're still acting like S.H..I.E.L.D's little pet?" While Rose's face went completely impassive, her eyes flashed livid.

Before he could even blink, she had appeared in front of him. "I'm no one's _pet_ , Maximoff," she snarled.

When she came closer, he put his hands up to protect his face. But then she put down her fists, and turned away. "By the way, you dropped something," she said without turning back. A wicked smirk grew on her face as she held up a small picture that had fallen out of his pocket some point during the fight. Pietro's face grew pale. It was a photo of two children and their parents. "I think I'll keep it."

"Give it back!" Pietro yelled, charging at Rose. At the last moment, she disappeared, and reappeared a few feet away. She waved the photo in front of his face. "You give that back, right now," he hissed.

"Or what?" Rose taunted, a cruel smirk gracing her lips. "Come and get it, Maximoff." With that, she disappeared.

* * *

Translations: (We all know I googled this so, and are we really that surprised by what he said...)

1\. Well, hello there, love. Name's Aaron Barnes.

Author's note: Chapter 6 out! Yay! So, I don't know why, but I don't want Rose and Pietro to get along well right away. Plus, I now can imagine this scene in my head where people see the two as a couple later in the future, and ask how they met. Pietro starts stammering out an explanation, but then Aaron walks right by, and just says loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, "She threw him into a tree and beat him up." Hope you all liked this! Until next time! You'll find out what happens to everyone then.


	8. Chapter 7: Safe house

Rose sat silently on the cold floor of the Quinjet with her back resting against the wall. She held a picture in her hand, the same she'd found back with Pietro. Somehow, she felt compelled to look at it, turning it over in her hope as she stared at the people smiling at the camera. The little boy in the picture sat between his parents with his sister in front of him. The children were both brunette, and looked so innocent. How on earth did these two become the ones she saw today?

Then again, if she were to see a picture of three-year-old her, she was sure the sight would be just as shocking. How that little girl who had been so innocent with her hopes and dreams had became a cold-hearted murderer.

Rose raised one knee up to her chest, and rested her elbow on it before using her arm to prop up her head. This must've been the last photo he had of his family. There wouldn't exactly be much left after the shell fell onto their building. She wouldn't know how it felt, but she guessed this was why he reacted like he did back there. After all, she didn't have anything left from her family until she got Steve back. He would search through everything he had just to find some old photos to show her, but he barely found any, and while she played it off like it didn't matter, it did.

There was barely anything left that she had to hold onto, nothing to remind her of a time when she was loved and had a family. Her mother's face was still hazy in her memory, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't depict a clear picture of what she looked like.

An unfamiliar feeling stirred. Sympathy? But then there was another: Guilt.

The fight that had taken place between Tony and the Hulk had been catastrophic to say the least. Half the city had been destroyed in their little showdown, and though Rose had yet to hear a body count, she knew it was going to be high.

Why couldn't she have gotten there sooner? She should've been there to step in before things got out of hand, though Tony assured her that things would've been much worse if she hadn't been there at all. She had managed to calm him down enough with her mind control so Tony could subdue him. By the time she got there, though, half the city had either turned to dust or was on fire. Sure, she had done worse before, but it wasn't the body count or the damage that she felt guilty about. It was Bruce.

Bruce who was even more guilt wracked than her, and she didn't want him to feel that way anymore. Not about something that was a part of him, and definitely not over something that wasn't even his fault. It was that Maximoff girl's fault. Her fault innocent people had died. Her fault the Hulk went out of control. Her fault Aaron was now missing.

Rose took out a dagger, and tossed it at the nearest wall. It pierced the steel, and the hilt stuck out.

Everyone had wisely thought it best to leave her alone with her thoughts when she had gotten on the Quinjet and sat in the back, isolating herself. She continued staring at the picture until she felt a large shadow tower over her. When she looked up, she closed her eyes and demanded through gritted teeth, "Can't you just leave me alone for ten minutes?"

"Well, I just wanted to ask if your old man could join you," Steve said quietly. Rose rolled her eyes, and stuffed the photo into her pocket, but scooched over to make room. He settled in beside her, and looked at her. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"You keep asking, but I still don't plan on saying anything," scoffed Rose.

He was silent for a moment, then he sighed, "We all took a hit, but we'll be fine."

"We failed. People have died, Ultron's still out there, we let ourselves get beaten by two teenagers, and the annoyance is missing," she snapped. "What next? We run and hide like a bunch of cowards?"

Steve bit his lip, suddenly looking uncomfortable. She caught on instantly. "No," she said, needing to hit something. "No, no, no, no!" She got up and turned to the wall before banging her head on it repeatedly, screaming in frustration.

"What are you doing?"  
"Banging my head until the memory's gone," she said, her voice muffled. "If I'm lucky, I'll hit my head hard enough so I'll think this was a dream."

"This is only until we find Ultron," Steve assured rapidly, trying to pry her away from the wall. "And I'm sure your friend's alright."

"I consider him more an annoyance," was her only reply as she continued banging her head against the wall.

He sighed. "We're heading to a safe house in a few hours. We don't have much else do. There's no official call for Bruce's arrest, but..."

"I get it," she mumbled, resting her forehead on the wall. "Ugh! This is all my fault."

"No, it wasn't-"

Rose cut him off as she turned around to face him with her arms folded across her chest. "You keep saying that, but we both know damn well it is!" she shouted, her face holding genuine concern and desperation. "I should've been there! Now this whole mess got screwed up even more because of me!" She started pacing the small space.

Guilt wasn't something she was used to feel or knew how to feel, and it certainly wasn't a feeling she understood the slightest. And she hated feelings she didn't understand. She hated feelings, period.

Steve made to put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. "Look, you can't blame yourself for this. You don't normally beat yourself up about these things? What's wrong?"

Finally, she burst out, "If I'd been there earlier instead of being a bitch, Bruce wouldn't be going through hell right now, and I could've actually done something to help!"

Before he could say anything to help, Rose covered her ears and sat back down, her knees brought up to her chest. "Just leave me alone right now, okay?" she snapped.

Nothing but silence, and she didn't look up at him until she heard him leave. She took out the photo from her pocket, and turned it over in her fingers again. Eventually, she gave into the overwhelming exhaustion, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Rose wasn't sure what she expected when she stepped out of the Quinjet, but one thing she certainly wasn't expecting was a farmhouse that looked like it belonged in Little House on the Prairie.

"What is this place?" Thor asked, looking as confused as she felt. Maybe they didn't have farmhouses back on Asgard.

"A safehouse?" Tony replied uncertainly. Rose climbed up the front porch after them.

"This better be because after today, I don't think I could handle any more bad news," she grumbled, reaching her hands back to untwine her messy braid.

The only one who actually felt comfortable was Clint as he walked straight up to the door and opened it. "Let's hope." Everyone stared at the archer for a mom after he disappeared into the house before following him.

"Honey, I'm home," he called out. The team walked into the kitchen him to see a heavily pregnant woman looking at him with what could only be described as love filled. "Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."

She simply greeted him and kissed him. Rose blinked at them while everyone else just stared, dumbfounded.

"Well, you said you didn't have a girlfriend," she noted. "You never said anything about a wife."

Tony tu _rned to_ Thor, and whispered, "This is an agent of some kind." Rose turned to him and rolled her eyes while everyone kept staring at the woman who was apparently Clint's wife.

Clint pulled away from her, and introduced her to them. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Laura."

They were all still staring at Laura awkwardly when Rose spoke up. "Um, I'm Rose, and I apologizeif later you see me trying to wring your husband's neck," she greeted, holding out her hand.

"Oh, I remember you, although you are a bit...different than Clint described," Laura said awkwardly, shaking her hand. At that, Rose slowly looked at Clint over Laura's shoulder, glaring a hole into his forehead. Meanwhile, Laura turned to the others. "I know all your names." Rose glanced over at Steve, but he only grinned and shook his head, just as surprised by this as she was.

Their exchange was interrupted by the sound of feet hammering against the hardwood floor. Two children ran into the room, yelling out, "Dad!"

As Clint picked one of them up, Rose chuckled. "What's your excuse for this one?" she asked Tony.

"These are...smaller agents." She snorted at his excuse. Sure, labs and mad scientists he could deal with, but farm houses and small children, not so much.

When she heard the little girl call Natasha her auntie as she jumped into her arms, Rose thought she might've either hit her head at some point or was still asleep. Ever the gentleman, Steve attempted to have some normalcy in their visit, and apologized for barging in unannounced. The super soldier's old-fashioned mannerisms were sweet, she guessed, but she knew exactly how to respond to that in the exact opposite way. Tony beat her to it.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed," he commented.

"For someone who grew up the way you did, you sure make me wonder if you were raised by wolves sometimes," sniped Rose. Clint shook his head, used to Tony's antics by now.

"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined," explained Clint. "He kept it off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files. I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."

One of the kids looked at Rose, and she stared right back. "Wow, you look pretty!" the boy exclaimed, smiling at her.

The teen tilted her head in confusion. "Thank you?" She didn't know how to deal with children. The little girl scrambled out of Natasha's arms as she talked to Laura, and ran up to Rose, eyeing her up and down.

"He's right. You're pretty. I like your hair," she complimented, lifting up a strand of Rose's long, streaked hair. Then she lifted her nails to her eyes to see it closer. "And your nails. And your clothes." Rose's blue-green eyes darted from the girl to Clint as if to say, _Help me._

He gave her an unimpressed look, then gestured for her to just go with it. In response, Rose narrowed her eyes. _You owe me, s_ he mouthed. She plastered on a fake smile when she turned back to the little girl. "So...what's your name?" she asked as sweetly as she could muster. Clint nodded approvingly.

"I'm Lila, and that's my brother Cooper," the little girl beamed, meaning the boy. "I like your bracelet. I have some too, but yours is different." Rose only nodded, and glared daggers at Clint over her shoulder as Lila led her away to give her a tour of the house, tempted to make a gesture she certainly would make if there weren't children in the room.

* * *

"How could you leave me like that?" was all Rose said as she walked into the living room where she thought Clint was. Her nails had been painted a bright pink from where Lila decided to do a little makeover with her. Rose had once again played reluctantly, and she also let Lila put on bright red lipstick she had taken from her mother's room along with some more makeup. Eventually Rose got caught up, and even gave Lila a small makeover of her own with some of her makeup.

"She's a kid. She wants someone to play with," a female voice replied instead. Laura walked into her line of vision, and her eyes widened when she took in Rose's face. "Oh my."

"Thank you," snorted Rose sarcastically. "That makes me feel so much better." She grabbed a paper towel, and wet in the sink before starting to wash off the excessive makeup. "It must be nice, though," she mumbled.

Laura paused. "What?"

"It's nice that Clint gets the type of life most of us won't ever have," Rose replied wryly as she wiped off the messy lipstick on her mouth. Silence met her. Over her shoulder, her eyes darted around to Laura who was about to open her mouth. "Please don't. I'm just saying Clint has an okay family and home, and I'm proud of him. He deserves something like this."

Instead, the older woman stared at her a moment. Finally she noted, "Clint told me a lot about you. He was one of the agents that helped you get settled after they took you out of the ice, right?"

"And one of the many, many agents who had to capture and sedate me to keep from breaking every bone in his body," Rose grumbled, folding her arms across her chest.  
"Okay..." laughed Laura nervously. "You're quite the conversationalist."

"So I've been told," snorted Rose, walking away. "I have quite the charming personality."

"Yeah, of a cobra," quipped Clint as he strolled into the kitchen the moment she left. "I see Laura's learning the hard way." He turned to his wife, and mumbled out of the corner of his mouth. "She's always like this at first. Give her some time, and you'll see she's nothing but fluff."

"I heard that!"

Rose walked back to the room she'd be sleeping in, and took out her phone before dialing in Aaron's number. On the third ring, she heard a cheerful voice say, "What up, Thorn?"

"Where have you been?!" she hissed. Only silence on the other line. "Aaron. Francis. Barnes," she started through gritted teeth, "what did you do _this_ time?

"Okay, okay! Just don't bring my middle name into this! You know I hate that!" he exclaimed. Rose raised a pierced brow, and waited. "Okay. I _may_ or may not be stuck in a cell somewhere in Sokovia with Ultron," he said casually, then waited for the explosion.

"I better have misheard you."

"Ummm...I wish I could say you did."

Silence. "I'm going to go about this very carefully," she said slowly, biting her lower lip. "Why are you there?"

"Uhh..." This he certainly did not want to tell her, then he took a deep breath, and rapidly told her all at once. "ImayormaynothaveletmyselfgetcapturedsoIcouldfindoutsomethingaboutUltron." At least he could hope he spoke too fast for her to hear. But by the silence that met him, he could tell she heard. Here it comes. One. Two. Three...

"WHAT?!"

On his side, Aaron yanked the earpiece out of his ear, and held it away. Even from that distance, he could still hear Rose ranting and cursing him out in Russian. All he prayed for was that no one else heard. "Hear me out," he reasoned as he put the earpiece back in.

"This is by far, the dumbest thing you have done today!"

"Well, the day is young," he sassily replied, and she could just hear the smirk on his face. "Look, I could pick this lock with my hands tied behind my back, and pretending to be the damsel in distress is wearing me out. Ultron is super lame and won't stop talking about himself. Nice number you did on Jack Frost, and I might have a date on Sunday when this is over. Already collected all useful information, and I'm bored."

"Good thing you're alive so I can kill you myself later," she snapped. "Do you even think before you do half the things you do?"

"Nah. Thinking interferes with being crazy," he chuckled.

"I can't with you. Now get back here because I miss your stupid face." Then Rose hung up, and sat on the window ledge, staring out the window. Cooper ran into the room at that moment.

"Are you okay?" he asked, tilting his head.

"I'm just fine," Rose said, getting down from the ledge. "What do you wanna do, short stack?"

"Can we go play outside?" he asked hopefully.

"Hmmm. I don't know. I thought you got tired of losing," teased Rose with a soft smile.

"I'm not gonna lose!" he protested.

She smirked. "Oh, yeah? Race ya outside." Cooper had already ran out the room, and she checked her nails for a few minutes, chipping at the pink nail polish Lila painted on. Then she opened the window, and got out through there. She waited until Cooper got out, and waved at him with a cocky smirk while he just gaped at her.

"How did you get here so fast?" he pouted. Rose burst into peals of laughter. It was surprising how quickly she had grown attached to the kids in only a few hours. In those few hours, she'd also realized she'd help keep life this way. To keep Clint's and his family's lives this way. A life she would've once died for.

* * *

Author's note: Yeah, it's shorter than usual, but at least it's here! For this chapter, I kinda wanted to show a more human side to Rose, and you'll be able to find out more of what's gonna happen next in the next chapter. Until then, see ya! ?


	9. Chapter 8: Laughter Hides Pain

Aaron had to admit, the prison cell was a change of scenery that made him feel more at home than anything.

In his dream, he'd encountered many things. None of them pleasant. It was a lot of what was done to him but more of what he'd done to others. The images that passed through his head weren't new to him. He saw them every night he fell asleep. It hadn't affected him as bad as the others. But that was mainly because it's hard to frighten someone with something they were already used to. The words that had bounced around in his head during the nightmare wasn't anything he didn't tell himself every single day.

So of course it didn't damage him like it had everyone else. How could it? His own memories did that job all on their own.

He'd been called a lot of things in his life. At this point, though they haunted him, he'd also embraced them.

Demon child.

Monster.

Freak.

Murderer.

The only thing he hated being called was Soldier. It was the same thing Aaron's mom would call him when he was young. Her perfect little soldier, she'd say. That's all he was to her. A good soldier. Nothing else. And most of all, he hated it because it was true.

When he'd woken up, he took in his surroundings and immediately started thinking up a plan to get out. The door was made out of metal, steel bars, and where there was a tiny window, it was too high up to reach with faint light filtering through metal bars across it. Even if he were to fly up there, it'd be impossible to squeeze through. The "bed" he was supposed to be sleeping on wasn't much more than a few cardboard sheets and a bunch of old newspapers.

Overall, this was quite a place compared to his old room back at H.Y.D.R.A.

First of all, back then, there wasn't even anything close to a bed. Unless you count the gurney they'd strap him into before rolling him out to conduct an experiment on him. Secondly, there hadn't been any window of the sort. In fact, for the first thirteen years of his life, he had no idea what sunlight even looked like until his handlers tried to transfer him to another base. Not to mention the fact that his old childhood cell was much less roomier than this and that he should actually move around because he wasn't chained to a wall. Although there was a small metal band wrapped around his neck, constricting his breathing. Now that made him internally panic, his mind flashing back to more unpleasant times. No way he could get it off without someone's help.

His hands shook as he clawed at his neck, hoping he could pry it off, but all he succeeded in was scratching his own skin.

His breathing quickened and he started coughing, his throat feeling as narrow as a straw with the metal collar only tightening the deeper breaths he took. Aaron grasped a handful of his hair, hyperventilating. He had to stay calm, or at least act it. Carefully, he slowed his breathing, and forced his face to calm into a cool facade.

"If anyone's here, show yourself right now, and maybe we can work something out," said Aaron nonchalantly, standing up. When no one answered, a small grin spread across his face. "Come on. I know there's gotta be someone here," he taunted, leaning against the metal bars of the door. "Jack Frost? The big tin man himself? Sabrina the Teenage Witch? I'm not talking until I see someone. And that's what you need me to do, right? Talk. Why else would you capture me?"

"Well, well, look who's awake," said a robotic voice as Ultron came into view. The twins stood by his side.

"I see the tin can has made an appearance," Aaron joked with a hand flourish towards the robot. "So to what do I owe the pleasure? You gonna kill me? I'd love to see you try," he grinned in a singsong voice. "You know, I never expected so much luxury in my living quarters. I'm overwhelmed." He gasped suddenly, his grin widening. "Do I get a least meal?"

"You misunderstand my intent. I don't plan to kill you." Aaron laughed at this.

"Yeah, I assumed so since you're basically wasting your time with me. But then again, I guess I've got to thank her." He jerked his head towards Wanda. "You, Mr. Metal, though, aren't going to get anything from this. So unless you're here to kill me, can I go home now? Doctor Who's on at ten and I'm pretty sure this place has no cable."

"Big words coming from someone with no one to hide behind." Aaron laughed, but since he didn't want to get kept here by Ultron's probably super long speech longer than he needed to be he said nothing. "Maybe I'll let you die last, just after I let you see your little team's bodies," Ultron continued. Rolling his eyes, Aaron scoffed. Not the whole, 'I'll kill you after I kill all your family and friends', speech again, he thought in annoyance.

"First of all," Aaron sighed, "the Avengers are not my team. I am not an Avenger. I am an individual vigilante who sometimes meets up with Deadpool and Daredevil for coffee and noodles." He paused a moment as he counted the facts off his gloved fingers. "Second of all, everyone I know that matters to me is either dead or can sure as hell take care of themselves without any help from me. Third of all, I've heard this way too many times. Fourth of all, do you guys seriously think this is my first time in a cell? You're going to have to come up with something better than that."

"Well, as I see it, you have no reason to be so cocky. Because that girl you think is your friend," Ultron lingered on the word, gauging Aaron's response, "is no longer here to clean up your mess. You have no friends, no powers, and no protection." Aaron rolled his eyes and feigned inspecting his gloved nails, deciding not to tell Ultron about his metal appendages. "Now here's what you're going to do if you want to live--"

"If you want me to sell them out, the answer's no," scoffed Aaron in an amused tone. "Maybe if you ask a little nicely...the answer would still be no. No matter what you do, the answer will always be no."

"You'll never see them again," he threatened, but Aaron was having none of it.

"I won't sell out people I don't know anything about. And the one person I do care about...has always been there for me, and if you think for one second that I'd betray her, you are out of your mind," he scoffed, all amusement suddenly evaporating from both expression and voice, giving Ultron a dark glare. "But you're a robot, so I don't expect you to understand what that's like because you're nothing but a giant, narcissistic piece of scrap metal."

And Aaron could see it then, the same flickers of uncertainty he caught in the eyes of those around him during his days at HYDRA. Though Ultron tried to cover it up, he didn't know what to do about him. He's scared. He doesn't know what this Barnes boy could do beside the basics he's seen himself, and that terrified him. But Aaron also knew that wouldn't last forever.

In an instant, Aaron gave a loud laugh, his cold stare fading as fast as it had appeared. "I scared you, didn't I?" he laughed, throwing his head back. Although Ultron regained his cocky posture, Aaron could see he was indeed frightening, at least a touch, the Maximoffs who were exchanging unsure glances.

Aaron kept laughing got a good few seconds until he felt the metal band on his throat tighten again. Then he stopped. According to Rose, whenever he did that laugh, it sounded like there was a few cracks in the mind that would never go away. And why should he hide that when it was so much fun to see the terrified expressions on people when he did that.

"You'll die slowly," the robot said angrily.

"Oh no. Dying. What a nightmare," quipped Aaron in a sarcastic tone.

For a moment, Ultron glared a bit longer before saying something about Aaron eventually changing his mind and leaving with the twins. Once Aaron heard the door close and the footsteps fade away into silence, he allowed the panic to set in, his smile melting away. It wasn't the cell, it wasn't the danger of dying that terrified him, it was the trauma that band around his neck reminded him of. All those times they shocked him into submission, all those times he felt only agonizing pain.

And even worse was being reminded of that collar from when he was twelve. The one they put on him after he tried to run away. It wasn't a shock collar, but it was somehow ten times worse. It was put on to make him feel like a dog, like owned property. To drive him nearly insane, to break him. There had even been a small tag on the back that had said Property of Teresa Gonzales. His mother's name.

His own mother had told them how to break him into submission. For thirteen years of his life, he'd grown up in HYDRA, he was even born in a HYDRA lab. But he'd been naive, knowing only what his mother had told him: That he owed everything he was to HYDRA, that they would make him stronger. Up until he found out what she really thought, he had put her on a pedestal, thinking her to be good and caring, thinking she actually loved him. Too bad in reality, all he was an experiment and weapon for her to use.

By the time he learned the truth, it was during that small period he and Rose had been separated when they were thirteen, when he was being transferred to another base without her. Of course, he never made it to the base, and ended up being in the outside world for the first time.

What happened during that year was something not even Rose knew about because it was for him alone. Because it gave him comfort knowing he had something for only him.

Aaron tried to force himself to laugh so he wouldn't start crying, but it came out a broken sob. Just having the collar on brought forth the memories of hopelessness. He tried to breath, but it just came out in short, quick breathes. He couldn't get enough air to his lungs and started to feel dizzy. His fingers dug into the flesh on his neck again, clawing at the thing he hated with a passion.

Then he recalled a slight technique, and started to focused on a clock outside his cell. He couldn't see it, but he could hear it ticking away the seconds. So, he synced his breaths with each tick, and it felt like centuries, but he finally started breathing normally again. His lungs burned and he was so light-headed, he thought he'd faint, yet no more hyperventilating so that was a plus. He scanned the room for any hidden security cameras so no one would see how easy it was to get to him, but thankfully knowing Ultron he probably had work more important than to watch someone have a panic attack.

To allow himself to think more clearly, Aaron paced around the area of his cell, occasionally scratching at the collar on his neck. He carefully blinked away any tears that had surfaced from the bad memories. He wasn't like Rose; he couldn't repress his emotions as well, only cover them up with another. And he preferred to replace his depressed thoughts with laughter and smiles.

After Aaron had made three full circles around the cell, he stopped at the door and noticed someone familiar standing in the corner. Out of instinct, he jumped into a defensive position, but slowly eased up when he saw who it was. He laughed, putting back on the smiling mask.

"I see you're still here? Why?" he smirked, walking up to the bars again.

"I don't know," the female Maximoff answered quietly, tilting her head in fascination. Aaron grinned, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, so you're not here to rub it in my face?" he teased. "Not one thing along the lines of 'Look who's laughing now?' Nothing?" She didn't answer. "Come on. Not feeling chatty?"

"I came to apologize," she said simply.

"For what? You didn't seem keen to do it while Ultron was here," shrugged Aaron. A long silence followed, punctured only by Aston tapping his fingers on the bars as he waited for some type of explanation.

"He needs to keep thinking my brother and I are on his side. But I had to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry I let him put it on you," she suddenly burst out. His grin slipped right off his face, knowing exactly what she was talking about, hands flying to the collar. "I looked through your head while you were asleep, saw your nightmares." Being too stubborn to say anything, Aaron crossed his arms over his chest.

"You saw my dreams? Of course you did," he mumbled, trying to keep a cool face, but failing miserably. He looked down do she didn't see the mask of indifference cracking to reveal the terror beneath. He didn't like the idea of someone prying into the one thing he's had control over his whole life. "How much did you see?"

"Everything." Aaron's breathing faltered for a moment, but he picked it up again after a few seconds. Wanda wiped at her eyes. "Of course, if it makes you feel better, I didn't tell my brother or that 'giant, narcissistic piece of scrap metal.'" She put air quotes around what Aaron had called Ultron, which made him smile and chuckle lightly under his breath. It was nice to know that she had some sense of honor. And humor. Other then the laugh, though, Aaron said nothing. Tension became high as the clock ticked on in the background.

"So how long you've been there?"

"Long enough."

Aaron laughed again. "You didn't leave when they did."

"No." Wanda looked like a child caught stealing from the cookie jar. Aaron groaned and put his head in his hands. That meant she'd seen him freak out.

"What did you do to me anyway?" he demanded, his voice muffled.

"I made you see all your worst fears in a vision," she responded softly, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket. "You were out longer than usual. I - I didn't mean to put you through something like that again."

"It's fine," Aaron shrugged calmly, although it really wasn't. "You're just someone so blinded by revenge you don't see all the people you're stepping on to get there." And he said that because he knew those words would sting more no matter how nicely he said them, watching her wince as if he'd slapped her. "Not just the Avengers and anyone who helps them, but also the innocent. It's not your fault. I get it." And he said that because it was true. "But are you really that willing to hurt all those people just for revenge on Stark?"

"You're not one to talk." Wanda crossed her arms.

Aaron winced. "Okay, I made a few mistakes, but I've owned up to them. Do you do the same?"

"I'm sorry," she said again, her accented voice truly remorseful, putting one hand to her head. It looked like his words were reminding her of all the damage she'd caused, which made him glad to know she felt bad. "I'm...I'm sorry. I know my apologies won't help anything, but I just...want you to know I'm really sorry." Aaron stared at her intently for a moment before he looked away.

"Alright," shrugged Aaron, and their gaze met. He held it until she turned away this time, and he watched her step out of the room.

If anything, her apology helped. It made him more pissed off, and that anger snuffed out the panic. He hated people who took advantage of others, whether it was simple or complex. Experience with HYDRA had resulted with that, recalling them taking advantage of his naivety. Ultron took advantage of their need for revenge to have someone do his dirty work when they had no idea what they were in for, even if they did know at least a bit.

He needed that, letting the fire fester while keeping it under control. Anger helped clear his head when it was too clouded with thoughts, and he was good as long as he didn't let it burn out of control.

"I'm Ultron, hurr, hurr, hurr," he mocked, pacing again. "I'm a big, scary robot, hurr, hurr, hurr. Gonna use a bunch of teenagers to do my work, hurr, hurr, hurr. Gonna go through with my super original plan to destroy the world, hurr, hurr, hurr. Gonna lock up the guy instead of kill him 'cause he's totally weak and not dangerous to my plan, hurr, hurr, hurr."

Clenching his fingers into a tight fist, Aaron suddenly turned to the door and punched it so hard it flew off the hinges. With a smirk, Aaron strode out. "Oh, look, he got out, hurr, hurr, hurr." He walked out of the room, and eventually found a few of the things that had been on him before. He reattached his earpiece and grabbed his gun and a small dagger Rose had given just in case, even though he wasn't a fan of knives. Now, of course, he couldn't be thankful enough.

Aaron carefully used it to go under the metal and after a few moments he managed to get it off. He let out a sigh of relief as he practically ripped it off his neck. Never again, he thought to himself.

He had no idea what he was doing here now. He had called Rose to let her know he was okay, and while she had screamed at him for a good few minutes, she sounded okay, too. Aaron didn't have to come here. He could've gone straight home to clean himself up or head to wherever Rose was. There was no reason to come here. But he did.

He had to. The memories he saw, his conversation with Wanda had all reminded him of some things. Some things Rose didn't know. Some things Aaron had to keep for only himself.

"Hey there, Dean. It's Birdie," he said, shuffling his feet as he looked down on the ground. "You called me that when I was thirteen. I told you I wasn't a bird, but you kept saying that if I wanted to correct you, I needed to say it in English, not Russian because I wouldn't talk to you in English." Silence met him in return. "I know I haven't been here in a while, but I had to come see you."

Sucking in a breath, Aaron continued, rubbing a hand over his face. "You know, you were a bit harsh, but you were...you were the first person outside of HYDRA who ever treated me as an actual person. I wasn't a thing to you. I wasn't a weapon, or a soldier. I wasn't a monster. I wasn't a freak. I wasn't any of those things to you. You just saw a kid." He went down on his knees. "And I don't think I can ever thank you enough for that."

Aaron took a shaky breath, knowing he would never have a chance to do that. Knowing he would never be able to tell Dean those things in person. Knowing he'd never see Dean's look at seeing him now, the person he'd become mainly because of him. The good he'd done.

Because the man who had helped him all those years ago was now six feet under.

Aaron sucked in another breath, tears running down his face. No one was around to see it so there was no point in hiding it anymore. He looked at the grave of Dean Harville, seeing nothing to mark it but a large makeshift cross made of two long smooth branches Aaron had made himself when he was younger. Nothing to separate the pile of dirt he was buried under from every other but that one cross.

Plant life had grown over the grave by now, grass and trees surrounding it in the forest. Just as well, too, since Dean had always loved nature. It was the least Aaron could do, when it was his fault he was dead. The people he cared about always ended up that way. It was better to be alone, to make no commitment, then to do so and feel the pain of them leaving. Everyone always left him. Rose and his father were the only people who had left but had come back, had always come back no matter what when he needed them most. But that didn't lessen the pain with those that did leave.

"But still, thanks for helping out a winged freak." After a moment of silence, Aaron let out a soft, shaky laugh. "You know, you never did teach me how to play catch."

Author's note: So on that sad note, oopsie. So yeah, this chapter will be one of the very few times you'll actually get a full insight on Aaron since this story is mainly focused on Rose. Of course, for some reason on writing this chapter I suddenly want to make a sort of prequel into the past before all this happened, and I've seriously never felt more ashamed because I already have all these other unfinished stories.

And after this, it'll be centered on Rose again, but I wanted to do a chapter on Aaron for once so I can give something for you guys to read until I can get back on track since I've got a lot of stuff on my plate.

Anyways, comment and tell me what you think! See ya and love ya!


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